I have a 1999 SLK with only 14,000 miles which caught fire. The incident just happened where it looks like it originated because of a faulty headlight switch. The accident will be investigated to determine the root cause but until then let me describe to all of you what had happened. I ask anyone with knowledge of a similar incident to please notify me, all others please be careful not to get hurt in a similar situation.

After pulling out of the driveway almost immediately I noticed a smell of burning plastic and also noticed the high beam indicator illuminating despite it being a beautiful sunny day where I hadn't turned the lights on. I drove no more than 1/4 mile where I had to roll the windows down and hang my head out just to breathe in order to get it back into my yard.

After pulling into the driveway and removing the key the car continued to run. I stalled the car by putting it into gear and checked under the hood for fire. Absolutely nothing was wrong underneath the hood except for an electrical buzzing sound about a foot in front of the steering wheel in the engine compartment.

I then noticed the headlights were still illuminated and turned them off by disconnecting the battery. All the while my car is still smoking from underneath the drivers side dash. Within minutes the smoke turned into flames. Luckily we were able to put the fire out and limit the damage to only the passenger compartment.

Please help me if you know of similar situations. I can not believe I'm the only one who this has happened to. I'm hoping to find that this situation will be noticed and corrected by the manufacturer so no one will be hurt by this. Note- if I hadn't been able to get it back home to where I had a hose the car would've been a complete loss.