91 200tq FIRE

["Eric Geller" <quattro@mediaone.net>]

This post stopped me dead in my tracks.  Had been re-reading past posts and
thought my situation was unique.

20 April 1999, the exact same sounds came from the rear speaker of my 1991
200 tq - but the car went up in flames(!!) and is a total loss.  I was
driving when this occurred and by the time I got out of the vehicle it was
full of black, acrid smoke and I was holding my breath while pulling over.
Not fun.  Did a stupid thing and opened the trunk (luckily no flare-in-face
effect) and clearly witnessed speaker as the source of the fire.   10 days
short of owning it a year.  Major bummer.

Local Audi dealership was great (I had them doing most of my repair work on
this beast), but AOA has shown legalistic unresponsiveness in three
escalating rounds of communications.   Had the vehicle towed to Key Audi in
Jax, FL from the scene of the fire, and AOA never sent a rep over to see the
vehicle, despite repeated requests.  They state the car is too old, the
sound system is aftermarket (well... aftermarket Pioneer CD changer, but was
not "on" at the time...) and that this is entirely a matter between me and
the insurance company.

The sounds had manifested earlier in April and was looking to get speakers
from another lister, so had gotten this info off one of them:  "Bose Rear
R.Le. 205 964 3103 441 035 412B"

Then, 20 May 1999 spouse gets t-boned by a '99 GMC Suburban; her Buick is
totaled and she gets a nasty smack in the head.  I dropped the Audi issue
entirely at this point, and haven't come back to it until I collected my
1,000+ pieces of mail from the list.

At first, test drove an A6 Avant, and then various other Audi's.  But after
AOA's attitude, I'm through with Audi's after 12 years driving them.  At
this point, I can't even stand looking at them.  Yesterday bought a '96 Olds
LSS.  The most ambivalent car purchase of my life.  Wife is doing better,
gotta get her wheels next.

I suspect that Audi of America is very likely to be hearing of or from me
once again.  Would anyone care to share their experiences regarding the Bose
amplified speakers in this series vehicle?

I'm a professional in my 40's and never had an accident (and technically
still haven't) or engaged an attorney for other than contract and estate
matters.  I don't think I'm being a jerk here - was looking for some level
of responsiveness from AOA, not early retirement to the Cayman's.  Excellent
insurance but out several thousand, I've got better things to do than
concentrate on this crap, yet it sure seems to me that a collectible (?@#$#)
like this '91 200 TQ shouldn't simply have gone up in flames.  This is my
first post regarding this incident.  Judging from their behavior, it looks
like AOA wants word of this incident to spread far and wide.  Other data and
video is available.  Photos likely to follow on the web site at some point.

Ok, there's the public purge.   Thanks in advance for any advice or further
info.

Eric Geller                        Jacksonville Beach, FL
'96 Olds LSS
'91 200tq      (burnt & not on Gerd Klauss's conscience)
'87 4000csq  (sold)
'82 4000       (in Audi heaven)

quattro@mediaone.net  -- you can bet this e-mail address will change...
www.jacksonville.net/~quattro   (for photos of the 200, pre-burn)


-----Original Message-----
From:	owner-quattro@audifans.com [mailto:owner-quattro@audifans.com] On
Behalf Of Frank Stadmeyer
Sent:	Wednesday, June 02, 1999 9:35 PM
To:	200q20v@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net; quattro@audifans.com
Subject:	Looking for Audi/Bose rear speakers

I presume that SCREECH!! SQUAWK!!!! BRAAAAP!!!! emmanating from my rear
speaker with the attendant release of the all important smoke and odor
component means that my speaker has expired.