awol

Excellent advice. My new Forester has a couple of cubby holes in the "way back" and a small extinguisher fits nice and tight back there.

I found out the 06 Forrester has a timer switch on the mirrors defogger. Still not sure if this was the cause of the fire but it sure looks suspicious. Wish me luck with the Forrester. Wanted to give Subie another chance. Made the dealer throw in a 100K bumper 2 bumper warantee to "buy back my trust". Made the move from OBW to the Forrester for the headroom for a big dog. Very comfortable seats for the people too. Looking forward to driving this car past 200K.

I DID have the mirror defrost on to burn off the mist from that morning. It had only been on for less than 10 minutes. But it is interesting that you mention that. I'm pretty sure the 06 models have the same switch (no timer like the rear defrost).

Happened to me yesterday in a 2003 Outback Ltd Sta Wa. Yours is the only post on the web that I found with a similar condition. Can't understand how it happened.

I had an electrical fire in the driver side door yesterday. Seemed to start in the control panel towards the front (near the mirror control). The entire door was engulfed in flames within 10 minutes. After the fire department put it out, the car is likely totaled. I owned it for just under 3 years. Anyone else have this happen? I saw that someone with a 2001 outback had a similar situation. Very unhappy as I really liked this car.