Cigar Lighter melting surrounding area?
 

I was just looking at Bring A Trailer. There is a 1967 442 for sale. One of the comments is about the propensity of the GM cigar lighters to turn on by themselves and stay on, thus melting the surrounding area in the instrument panel, or I suppose worse. You can see the damage on this car in one of the photos. This is the first time I have heard of this But is this a more common problem with GM or any other cigar/cigarette lighter? Thanks

More likely due to a crusty old element sticking and overheating rather than turning on by itself.

The lighter in my '66 was pushed in by accident, likely while I was wiping down the dashboard or something similar.

Anyhow, I was driving and kept smelling what I swore was burning leaves.
I soon realized my lighter was stuck in.

I removed it and used a No Smoking Plug for a few seasons while I located a good, clean replacement. No issues since.

Thanks. I like the plug idea, just to be safe.

Put a new socket and element in. I just found a handful of both types of elements brand new at a swap, sold them all at Dayton

Replace the socket at least, you can charge your phone at least while your driving around

thanks all. I bought the car after it was restored. So the socket is either reused original GM or new reproduction. I bought the plugs on Amazon. I'll use that. If I take it to a car show I'll put the element back in for display purposes.

Someone reached in once at a cruise in and stole my lighter, I remove it now for shows.

The lighter melting the dash was pretty common back in the day. I change all my lighters from Rochester to Casco style just for this reason. I always manage to maintain the original knob though.

Could just unplug the wire on the back put a little electrical tape on it then if you ever want it to work again just plug it in. You can also get the adapter to use it as a charging port.

I never had this problem, but I bought one of these and use it in place of the lighter (which I keep in the glove box): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JA627KU...n_title_1&th=1

I like that. Getting one. Only time I have tunes on is Dreamcruise. Need to plug my phone in