A woman grabbed the attention of internet users after recounting that her Jeep Grand Cherokee suddenly caught on fire.
The incident was shared by Mary Caroline Minter, who posted a video on her TikTok profile to report what happened. According to her, she was driving in the rain after leaving a clothing store when she began to smell burning rubber.
She initially attributed the smell to a tire she had previously punctured. But when she looked closer, she found something much worse. “I see that the entire underside of my passenger seat is engulfed in flames,” she said.
Her first instinct was to reach out and lift the seat to confirm what she was seeing. The fire burned her hand and sweatshirt, a detail she only noticed after the adrenaline wore off.
Mary then pulled the car across the street and jumped out. “I jumped out of the car with a bag on my shoulder, and grabbed a stuffed dinosaur because my priorities were a little out of sync,” she said. “At this point, I’m running. I’m fleeing.”
She then explained that the fire spread quickly. In the 20 seconds it took her to get out, Mary said the fire under the seat evolved into a cabin fire that consumed the cushion, then the seatback, and finally the entire front passenger area.
It was raining, and her phone was dead, preventing her from calling emergency services. A passing driver handed her his phone with the fire department already on the line, and she waited in shock until her dad and boyfriend arrived.
By the time the firefighters extinguished the fire, the windows had exploded, the sunroof had blown out, and sparks were coming from nearby power lines. The firefighters told her it took several rounds of suppression to fully extinguish the interior.
In the comments, Mary added that the firefighters told her the cause appeared to be a faulty or short-circuited battery located directly under the front passenger seat.
Several commenters confirmed this, noting that some models of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, including certain configurations from 2016 to 2019, placed the main or auxiliary battery under the front seats, rather than under the hood.
While this is not an uncommon practice among automakers and does not pose an immediate safety risk, internal batteries require proper shielding, adequate ventilation, and careful routing of high-capacity cables in confined spaces.
While Mary’s Jeep is not on any recall list for fire risk related to the battery, Jeep has already recalled other models for electrical issues that could lead to heat buildup or ignition.
Mary admitted that, despite this being her third Jeep, the incident ultimately caused her to lose her loyalty to the brand. “Get rid of the car,” she suggested to viewers. “I loved my car, and it’s definitely not worth it.”
@fit_lil_ginger word of advice, jump out of your car IMMEDIATELY if you smell burning. if you know me… the odds this would happen to me are unfortunately high #carfire #jeepfire ♬ original sound – MC
Photo and video: TikTok @fit_lil_ginger. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
