A Portland man said his new-to-him Mercedes-Benz caught fire in the middle of the Glenn Jackson Bridge a week after he drove it off the lot.

Gabriel Lopes was giving a friend a ride home Feb. 6 when his 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300 shut off after struggling to change gears. He pulled over to the left shoulder of Interstate 205 and tried to restart the car when smoke started rising from the hood.

He'd just bought the $42,000 car, certified pre-owned by Mercedes-Benz, seven days earlier. It had been used as loaner and been driven only 13,000 miles.

After calling 911, thinking he would need help moving the car off the bridge, Lopes started filming the scene from his phone. That's when he started to see flames. The video captures Lopes' stricken reaction.

Several minutes later, the video captures the sound of an explosion.

"No warning. The car just turns off, you pull over, the thing's on fire," Lopes said Friday. "Seeing your brand-new car blow up in front of you in less than nine minutes is horrific."

No one was injured in the incident, and no other vehicles were damaged.

Lopes said he still doesn't know what caused the explosion. He's been in contact with Mercedes-Benz and the dealership, which offered him a loaner he's reluctant to drive.

He's still waiting to hear whether the German automaker will pay him back for the original car.

The car was included in a recall for a power steering problem, but no other. However, Mercedes-Benz did recall some 2015 C300 vehicles in April 2015 for an improperly secured fuel delivery module. The issue could cause stalls or fires.

The VIN for Lopes' car wasn't included in the recall database, however.

He said Mercedes-Benz has told him it's investigating, and that the company will send an engineer to inspect the vehicle. The company, through a spokeswoman, said it was working with the Portland dealership to learn more but declined to comment further.

"What I really want for this is for people to know exactly what happened and make sure they go check their cars," Lopes said.

Mercedes-Benz, a week off the dealer's lot, suddenly catches fire on I-205 3 Gallery: Mercedes-Benz, a week off the dealer's lot, suddenly catches fire on I-205

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus