Vicki and Philip Hill’s doorbell camera on their Maryland home captured the moment on the morning of May 14 when their 2015 Nissan Murano suddenly burst into flames, USA Today reported.
The couple told the outlet that if the car had been parked in their garage instead of the driveway their house could have exploded. The Hills said that their family was woken up by the explosion of the car’s airbags from the fire, Fox 5 DC reported.
“At first, we thought someone was breaking in, and we were terrified. When my husband told me that the vehicle was on fire and to call 911, my first priority was getting our kids out of the house,” Vicki Hill told the outlet.
Firefighters then arrived and put out the fire, the outlet noted. The cause of the fire remains under investigation but the owner believes it may have been due to a fault in the ABS actuator pump seal, the outlet reported. Philip said that he had the pump worked and has the receipts for that service, the outlet noted.
“The safety of our customers is extremely important to Nissan. We’ve opened an investigation into this incident. Our team will be reaching back out to Mr. and Mrs. Hill,” Nissan told Fox 5 DC. Nissan told USA Today that a technician visited the family and they do believe that the car “was subject to a recall but cannot make any further comment on this specific incident until the investigation is completed.” (RELATED: Volkswagen Recalling Over 260,000 Vehicles To Address Potential Fuel Leakage And Fire Hazard)
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration observed that there were five recall notices on the 2015 Nissan Muranos. Three of those notices- given in 2019, 2018, and 2016- noted that a fire could result from an electrical short from brake fluid leaking on the circuit board.
