[Damyankee]

Just traded our 700XTX in for an 09 XTZ about 1 week ago. Went riding ttoday for the 2nd time and washed it down with a hose. My 25 year old daughter wanted to take it for a ride, about 5 min later she called and said it was on fire. We jumped in the truck and got there in time to see it completly in flames. I have no idea what caused this it only had 30 miles on the complete machine. The only mods were 28" Zilla tires, Winch & SSV stage 3 stereo with alpine upgrade (Stereo was still playing as it burned) Here are a few pics, any ideas?

 

[sandchris]

Hopefully anything that was after market electrical was fuse protected.
Please tell me you are insured.

 

[Johnny]

man sorry about the bad luck ...

 

[Mustanggeek]

Damn...that sucks. Hopefully no one was hurt.

 

[Damyankee]

Fused and fully insured

The stereo was the complete set up from SSV and came with the large stereo type inline fuse about 3" from the battery. I did have the instrement panel cycle wildly earlier in the day and then just went back to normal, the daughter said the same thing happend just befor the fire. when she got off and looked under the thing it was dripping burning plastic from the center just about where the bed meets the back of the seats. My daughter said there was no noticable heat with her arm on the engine cover. I am at a loss as to what happened, I hope this is not some type of factory defect that could happen to some one else. I will be contacting my dealer 1st thing in the morning. Looks like or trip to Brimestone for the side by side roundup is not going to happen unless the insurance can turn a new on around in a week and a half. O well I guess I will just break the go fast boat out and head to the river

Thanks
Rob

 

[sandchris]

What about the winch Rob?Fuse or circuit breaker on it?I think there was a problem with a screw coming in contact with the battery on some of the xtz's.I wonder if yours might have had that problem?You might find out if you need to if yours had been corrected before they sold it to you.Or maybe yours was corrected at the factory.Sorry to see this.It sounds like everyone was ok though?

 

[Damyankee]

Sandchris

I am not sure on the winch it was dealer installed before I picked it up. The winch relay was mounted above the battery under the drivers seat. As I remeber it looked like the pos & neg looped directly around and 2 the battery with not circut breaker or fuse (I am not positive as the only time I looked at it was when I tied the positive cable to the stereo amp into the positive wire coming to the winch relay. I used the same terminal as the winch)

 

[flying121]

Judging from where she reported the fire and melting plastic I would point at the parking brake being left on. This has happened to several other XTZ 1000 owners and resulted in fire. It is a new design and it is very easy to leave on. I was at my dealer and there were two XTZ 1000's there that had been on fire due to the brake being left on. Could happen to anyone. I have said to many people that AC should have put a loud buzzer when the park brake is set and the ignition is on. Sorry to hear about your misfortune and I'm glad everyone is ok.

 

[sandchris]

It could have been a number of things.But the relay was probably not water proof.And with relays as you probably know you have a ground and hot from the battery and then a trigger wire from you hand held control.Not a good idea to not have short protection from any add on accessory.Just voicing some thoughts here.Let us know if you find out what it was please.Good luck Rob.

 

[Damyankee]

E Brake

That was my 1st thought also but when she went to take of the E brake was on and I watched her release it (unless she did not get it all the way off)

 

[sandchris]

That is a good point that i forgot about.Rob you can probably look and see if the parking brake is still pulled up.

Judging from where she reported the fire and melting plastic I would point at the parking brake being left on. This has happened to several other XTZ 1000 owners and resulted in fire. It is a new design and it is very easy to leave on. I was at my dealer and there were two XTZ 1000's there that had been on fire due to the brake being left on. Could happen to anyone. I have said to many people that AC should have put a loud buzzer when the park brake is set and the ignition is on. Sorry to hear about your misfortune and I'm glad everyone is ok.

 

[Damyankee]

Thanks for all the help guys

I will keep everyone posted as to the oucome.

Rob

 

[flying121]

That was my 1st thought also but when she went to take of the E brake was on and I watched her release it (unless she did not get it all the way off)

I noticed on mine that if you release it almost all the way there are still two clicks left to go and the brake drags a bit. Bad design in my opinion. I would still be looking at the park brake as the cause. Just my two cents.

 

[Ranger Mark]

Rob. Sorry to hear the news. Sure glad no one was on it at the time. I sure wish you would get a new one before the Brimstone trip. Maybe Keena can get a refund on the pre-regristration at Brimstone if you don't get a new one buy then. Hope this is **** or Arctic Cat's issue that would make it much easier for you.

Mark from CAT..

 

[Split]

jjeeezz Yankee that really bites dude..u may need a forensic specialist to find out the cause...i certainly hope everything works out for you...makes me glad i have insurance on mine..

 

[fidds]

10:1 odds that the parking break was left on. I did the exact same thing on mine, and my old lady was like " whats that burning smell?" and sure enough, all my snorkel hoses were burning. These things have so much power, its hard to notice a brake really on. Grill your daughter, ask her if the machine felt "sluggish" or if she even had to apply the brakes to stop the machine. Sorry about your luck though.

 

[Damyankee]

Parking brake

While showing her the diff. between the 1000 and the 700 I had her release the parking brake and there was no light on (as was the case on the 700 foot operated E brake). There is the possibility that the E brake was part way on but the light was off. I went to the dealer today and the only help I got was a bunch of research they wanted me to do for Arctic cat (track down the fire report, contact the fire marshall and have them do an investigation etc) I asked the dealer if they were going to pick the burned unit up and the said no just leave it where it is at. With the amount of help they were willing to give me I called the bank and had them stop payment on the $7900 personel check I had given them. They may have a little better perspective now that we are half owners in the pile of burned junk.

My insurance will cover the unit and the stereo, but if they determine that it was no fault of mine they will not pay for the $300 dollar GPS or the 16 gig Ipod touch, the simpson 5 way harnesses or the damage to the siding on the garage and they will then go after Arctic Cat for their money. I think I will just expidite the issue and contact a lawyer, as it looks now the only loser is going to be me. I also found the Email address to the CEO of Arctic Cat on another thread, I think I will send him some pics tonight. If anyone has any better advise on not being the loser here let me know.

Thanks for listening to me vent
Rob

 

[flying121]

While showing her the diff. between the 1000 and the 700 I had her release the parking brake and there was no light on (as was the case on the 700 foot operated E brake). There is the possibility that the E brake was part way on but the light was off. I went to the dealer today and the only help I got was a bunch of research they wanted me to do for Arctic cat (track down the fire report, contact the fire marshall and have them do an investigation etc) I asked the dealer if they were going to pick the burned unit up and the said no just leave it where it is at. With the amount of help they were willing to give me I called the bank and had them stop payment on the $7900 personel check I had given them. They may have a little better perspective now that we are half owners in the pile of burned junk.

My insurance will cover the unit and the stereo, but if they determine that it was no fault of mine they will not pay for the $300 dollar GPS or the 16 gig Ipod touch, the simpson 5 way harnesses or the damage to the siding on the garage and they will then go after Arctic Cat for their money. I think I will just expidite the issue and contact a lawyer, as it looks now the only loser is going to be me. I also found the Email address to the CEO of Arctic Cat on another thread, I think I will send him some pics tonight. If anyone has any better advise on not being the loser here let me know.

Thanks for listening to me vent
Rob

Rob

Good call on the check I like your style. I hate it when someone sells you something and promises the world then when it comes time to deliver that customer service they promised they don't lift a finger. Once they have your money things change a bit. I'm not saying all dealers or salesman are like this but many are. The park brake light on the dash does not illuminate until the 3rd click of the brake and it drags more then you would think with just 2 clicks on it. As far as the insurance goes I always add $15,000 additional coverage to all of my vehicles just to be sure i am covered and it only cost maybe $16.00 per six months for this. An umbrella policy is a must for these side x sides incase anyone gets hurt you are covered up to a million bucks. Good luck with your situation and let us know the outcome and if your dealer takes care of you the way they should.

Regards,

 

[sandchris]

Hey Rob,I think the stop payment idea is great.I think before you send any emails for your own protection I would contact a lawyer first.I can promise you that these people that you are going to be dealing with will have one.And don't take this the wrong way but they have been through this stuff before and are a lot better at it than you are.

 

[Darryl89]

Judging from where she reported the fire and melting plastic I would point at the parking brake being left on. This has happened to several other XTZ 1000 owners and resulted in fire. It is a new design and it is very easy to leave on. I was at my dealer and there were two XTZ 1000's there that had been on fire due to the brake being left on. Could happen to anyone. I have said to many people that AC should have put a loud buzzer when the park brake is set and the ignition is on. Sorry to hear about your misfortune and I'm glad everyone is ok.

I'm curious, I haven't heard anything about XTZ's having a fire problem resulting from the brake being on a click or two. I would like to see your references so I can find out more. By the way, my XTZ dash brake light comes on at the first click.
But I would highly recommend that before people start jumping to conclusions, find out what the fire investigator's report says, then ask for the insurance to either investigate or verify the fire dept's investigation. With the addition of the stereo and any other accessories, there is always other possibilities.