SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A local mother says she is grateful to be alive after her SUV caught fire.
Amy Strauss said she watched as her vehicle burned in the middle of Georgia 400.
Since then, Strauss told Channel 2’s Michael Seiden that she feels like she is still living in a never-ending nightmare.
“I kept thinking, ‘That’s not my car. Surely, that’s not my car. It’s supposed to be a safe family vehicle,’” Strauss said after her 2023 Subaru Ascent broke down in the middle of Georgia 400.
It then erupted into flames.
“Even to this day, I cannot stop thinking about what if I had the kids with me in the car?” Strauss said.
The wife and mother-of-two was headed to pick up her kids from school on March 18, when all of a sudden her SUV died in the middle of the highway near the Northridge Road exit in Sandy Springs.
“All of the warning lights came on in the car and the car completely died,” Strauss said.
Her husband told her to call 911 and the dispatcher helped her get out safely.
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“I was actually very apologetic because it felt like it was not an emergency, and I was taking resources that didn’t need to be taken,” Strauss said. “That super brief four-minute call I think, effectively saved my life.”
As soon as she stepped out…
“I was stunned to see smoke pouring out of the engine,” Strauss said. “The tires blew. There were a lot of noises, and then within seconds, it was completely engulfed.”
Strauss said she watched helplessly as the fire melted her Subaru. Thankfully, her children were still at school.
“I think the time that I would’ve needed to unbuckle my young kids would’ve been too late,” Strauss said.
She told Seiden that it’s been more than a month since she reported what happened to Subaru, but still hasn’t gotten a definitive answer.
“I would have thought that Subaru would have immediately come to our aid and just provided some kind of solution,” Strauss said.
Strauss said that Subaru issued a recall in 2022 on more than 250,000 Ascent vehicles due to an increased fire risk.
Seiden emailed and called Subaru’s corporate office to see if there is a bigger problem. He received the following statement on Wednesday.
“Our records indicate that we have been in touch numerous times with the customer, via email and phone, beginning March 19th and including this week and last. The case was opened on 3/19, and the inspection was finished last week. The customer was notified that it takes approximately 1-2 weeks to get the results after the inspection is concluded. So, we are on target for the investigation timeframe. Please note that her car was not part of the population included in the recall, so it was not affected by those issues.”
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