Originally Posted by Ellar

Rumours about engine fires plagued the Fiero car line because of a series of incidents in 1984 (the first year of production). At that time, they were only available with the "Iron Duke" 2.5 liter inline 4 cylinder engine. GM paid the supplier who made the connecting rods for that engine by the pound. The supplier started pumping out anything that would pass a cursory visual examination, no matter what condition it was actually in. Then the rods started breaking, punching through the block in some cases. Oil poured out all over the hot exhaust manifold, and ignited. The body of the car was a combination of ABS, fiberglass and some other plastic I can't remember. A simple oil fire could burn the car to the ground in a relatively short time.