Also, when I pulled it out of the dock today, I literally, burned my hand on the underside... I'm sure that's not good for it...

And also, likely, the whole reason the hard disk is failing.

When you say "pulled it out of the dock", you're referring to a dock installed in the car dashboard, correct?

Are there two stereos installed in your dash? Or perhaps no room for air around the player in the dash? Those things can cause heat buildup and kill a hard disk rather effectively if you're not careful about keeping it cool.