general problems of the 2000 Kia Motor Sportage

The car had not been driven in 2 days. My daughter started the car, drove it about 1/4 - 1/2 mile when she noticed smoke coming from the console on the passenger side. She parked the vehicle, got out and ran to the passenger side to see if she could tell where the smoke was coming from and could see fire through the crack in the console where the cover over the console was joined together. Within seconds, the entire inside of the vehicle was engulfed in flames, which leads me to believe that there may have been a gasoline leak. She was in a residential neighborhood with very little traffic. Had she been on the highway or in traffic, this would have been a very different scenario. She and others would have been hurt or worse. Her pocketbook had fallen on the floor and she reached over to pick it up and that is when she saw the smoke. She had time to get out before the car imploded. The entire interior of the car was gutted and the paint was burned off the drivers side and roof of the car. All that is left of the inside is soot, metal and charcoal from front to rear. We bought the car from a dealer on December 21, 2012. It ran great, was in good shape and we had no problems or warning signs prior to this incident. I am going to notify kia, but am not very hopeful of any resolution without some intervention from NHTSA.

The contact owns a 2000 kia Sportage. The contact stated that he was notified by a concerned citizen that his vehicle was leaking fuel. The contact examined the vehicle and noticed that there was a puddle of fuel underneath. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for a diagnosis, but was informed that the failure was not a defect and that the vehicle was just old. The vehicle was not able to be parked on rental property due to the hazard and potential for a fire. The fuel fumes also made the driver feel dizzy, contributing to unsafe driving. The failure and current mileages were 120,000. The VIN was unavailable.