You always hear the stories and always think it would never happen. Well it did. I have a few of those cheap USB phone chargers that plug into the cigarettte lighter socket. Was using one in a 2009 Mini Cooper R56 and yesterday it burst into flames. Seems like the electrodes broke and were shorting out and created enough heat to ignite the plastic. Had to pull over from the highway, turn off the car to get the bits out that were causing the short. Could have been a disaster. Luckily socket still seems to work and the damage is mostly burn marks inside the socket.