- A 73-year-old woman died after her car caught fire and the doors would not unlock, police said.
- Mary Frahm was known as a "groundbreaker for the Downs Syndrome community" in her community.
A 73-year-old woman in Dunn, Wisconsin, died last month after her vehicle caught fire and the doors would not unlock, trapping her inside.
Mary Frahm was returning home from dropping off her son at work when her 2009 Dodge Journey started acting strange on December 9, the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier reported. The windshield wipers started on their own, the speedometer began moving, and the lights of her dashboard flashed as the SUV started to lose power, the outlet reported.
A Dane County Sheriff's Office report said that Frahm called her fiancé to let him know that her car was "acting up," according to the outlet. The police said that Frahm's car had occasional electrical problems over the course of the four years that she owned it, but this time she said that she could not unlock the doors or roll down the windows, even with her key fob, the outlet reported.
Frahm called her fiancé a second time to tell him that smoke had begun coming out of her dashboard while he was on his way to her and she called police shortly after, the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier reported. But the car was engulfed in flames by the time first responders arrived, the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier reported.
The Dane County Sheriff's Office did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Tuesday.
A representative for Stellantis, the company that develops and manufactures Dodge vehicles, said the company is "not aware of any similar cases" in a statement provided to Insider.
"We extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Frahm," the company said in the statement.
Frahm's fiance told police that she took exceptional care of her car, but a police investigation revealed that the car had a TIPM, or Totally Integrated Power Module, a part that some older Chrysler models have that can cause them to malfunction. The TIPM has been the focus of a class action lawsuit against the company, according to the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier.
Chrysler was sued in 2014 by customers who said the company misled them about the TIPM defect and the suit was settled after the company issued recalls on some Dodge Durangos and Jeep Grand Cherokees, according to Newsweek. Frahm's vehicle was not included in the recall, according to the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier.
Frahm's son, who she dropped off at work before her car caught fire, is in his 50s and has Down's syndrome, the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier reported. Frahm was well known within her community as a "groundbreaker for Down syndrome in the Madison area," her sister told the outlet.