How To Prevent Car from Catching Fire?

[NH08]

Losing faith in Maruti regarding safety is an extreme reaction for the following reasons-

1. There are no widespread instances of Maruti cars catching fire, just rare cases like the one mentioned in the news.
2. From the news it seems that car was fitted with CNG Kit. Now it is not clear whether it was factory fitted or fitted by some mechanic.
3. There is nothing to indicate that it was a mechanical defect rather than a human defect which caused fire.

 

[auto_luver]

Re: Pictures of Automobiles Involved in Accidents

petrol is main problem which cause fire not CNG . To cause CNG to burn they required high temp. more then petrol . I saw myself CNG cylinder started leaking in auto everyone ran away from it and auto was parked near shop which was using flame to cut metal and in all time CNG never caught fire

I do not agree with this. As we all know CNG is " Compressed Natural Gas". Following is the properties of Natural Gas

" Natural gas is a colourless and odourless fossil fuel consisting mainly of methane CH4, which is the simplest hydrocarbon. It is formed by the decomposition of prehistoric vegetable and animal matter, and trapped in porous rock formations beneath the surface of the earth. Other compounds of natural gas include ethane, propane, and butane. Natural gas is lighter than air, and this fact enhances its safety. Unlike other fuels such as diesel, petrol or LPG, which are heavier than air, should a natural gas leak occur, the gas will readily dissipate into the atmosphere. This eliminates the risk of the fuel accumulating or pooling at ground level and causing a greater risk or hazard.

Natural gas is colourless and odourless when it is extracted from the earth, and an odorant is added for safety, before it is piped to consumers, as a ready means of leak detection. An average person can easily detect the smell of gas at a concentration as low as 1% by volume in air. That concentration is about 5 times lower than the level that will support combustion.

Natural gas will not explode in the presence of a flame until it reaches a very specific concentration in the air - below a certain level it is deemed too lean to burn and above a certain level it may be too rich to burn. Within a flammable range, the gas will ignite and may cause an explosion.
The flammable range is expressed by Lower Explosive Limit ("LEL") and Upper Explosive Limit ("UEL"). The LEL is the concentration of natural gas in the air below which the propagation of a flame will not occur on contact with an ignition source. The natural gas LEL is 5%. This means that, in most cases, the smell of gas would be detected well before combustion conditions are met. The UEL is the concentration of natural gas in the air above which the propagation of a flame will not occur on contact with an ignition source. The natural gas UEL is 15%."

So, CNG only in the flammable range i.e 5-15% concentration will catch fire ( please note this can be very easily achieved in a closed room but in a open atmosphere it is very difficult since the gas is 5 times lighter than air ! and can easily dissipate with slight wind)
So this must be the reason the auto did not catch fire even when parked in the vicinity of fire.

For the Alto owners, IMO , this incident seems more of external factors rather than mechanical defect ! The vehicle is standstill and don't know whether the engine was running at all ... facts will come out only after further investigation. Check this link where a Honda's CNG tank exploded ! ( So not only maruthi even Hondas do explode )
http://www.probeinternational.org/f...ompressed natural gas fuel tank explosion.pdf

 

[ilango[speed thirst]]

Well , in any given fire case in car ,

the major point is electrical short circuit and fuel leakage , read it as petrol leakage.


Well ON ELECTRICAL

1. Using no proper insulation [any car will be touched by a electrician outside the factory where the usage of coupler is highly not taken care of] So in this case proper insulation tapes must be used and any cuts must be properly sealed.

2.Usage of correct/rated fuse and more important is never short circuit a fuse. some times due to unavailability of fuse at that time a simple wire is used for sc.

3.Service alternator , starter motor from a reputed electrician who follows perfect procedure.
a removal of fuse in the alternator may result in burning of the alternator and there by catching fire of the car. this was the case that happed to a indigo, diesel about 50 kms from pondicherry. Inspected by My electrician yo know the reason , he said the alternator is vanishing , and the people just a km from the burning said the fire was there near front right wheel bottom part and the driver didnt listen their calls due to windows rolled up.

On fuel

1. Rather saying in our country , i prefer saying in my town and neighboring ,i have seen drivers steeling petrol from their owners car.
Ok the job is well executed , but do they fix them properly? some do not fix the clips properly and that leads to fire. Cases of modern car getting fire , esp the daewoo ciello was for this very reason. It had different type of clip then[now common] and driver's who do not secure them back tightly till they hear a click sound , lead to removal of same and fire due to the high temperature.

2.On diesel cars , mostly the fire may not be that easy , but this is by spilling etc. like checking pump , taking out air from system by removing the pipes etc , some diesel do spill. One need to carefully clean them. the diesel spill on alternator , may get heated up due to its heat and burns and remaining diesel surrounding that area just helps to burn.



The battery must be always be free from any covering. like the new battery covered by a tight plastic sheet , some have a habit of removing only the terminal covering plastic and leaving rest intact saying the battery will be free from dust etc, battery do get heated and must be well air circulated.

If covering of the battery is fine , then manufacturer them self must do the same if they can do that to seat covers.

 

[mastersquall]

chance are still low compare to petrol and diesel . that's what i say if CNG really catch fire it will explode not burn whole car where in all cases car got burned not rip apart not even single case . So i still say stop blaming CNG alone

 

[auto_luver]

3.Service alternator , starter motor from a reputed electrician who follows perfect procedure.
a removal of fuse in the alternator may result in burning of the alternator and there by catching fire of the car.

Can you elaborate this for us ...

 

[Akash]

I dont think there is any hard and fast rule to prevent such incident, however the chances of such happenings can be reduced by proper maintenance and inspection of critical part like fuel line, cng/lpg kit. In addition to this, one must keep a check on the temp gauge and other indication while driving. Also there are fire extinguisher car kit readily available in the markets, so keeping one for the car wont be an expensive deal especially when it has to do with safety.

 

[ilango[speed thirst]]

Can you elaborate this for us ...

Alternator [some]have self fuse inside them near the rectifier.
this is ment for sc if anything wrong happens. but if that is a fault and electrician not able to find the fault , some just remove the fuse and direct them. causing tragedy in long run. with luck some may run for lacks of kms.

another thing is using thinner wire in place of thick for cost saving. the wires just melt and fire

 

[auto_luver]

Thanks, ilango.
Basically, it's about maintaining the vehicle may it be electrical or fuel lines !!! But if it happens on a brand new vehicle, it may be due to defective manufacturing or other factors like rats eating away the wires making them exposed !!!

 

[powerpacked]

Re: Tata Nano On Fire!! Edit: Now Many More!

Even Vento
Car bursts into flames on ignition; owner injured - Indian Express

Owner got locked inside his Volkswagen Vento (what a safe car )

Car bursts into flames in Pune; owner rescued

Surprised to see just three companies covered this news.

 

[Vishwas]

Re: Tata Nano On Fire!! Edit: Now Many More!

Now this seriously raises the question of safety in German engineered cars.
Now one question shot my mind:
Does the central locking system gets gaga jamming the door locks when there is a fire break-out in the car?

 

[nickandre]

pretty hard to say what did go wrong on the vento one newspaper says the car brushed against another car, how can that start a fire? another site says short circuit is assumed and the picture shows no cars around it to be brushed :P

same thing i noticed at the time of the honda accord accident here on palm beach road. one newspaper said they weren't drunk another said they were and racing with an audi.
media isn't trustworthy these days

 

[powerpacked]

pretty hard to say what did go wrong on the vento one newspaper says the car brushed against another car, how can that start a fire? another site says short circuit is assumed and the picture shows no cars around it to be brushed :P

same thing i noticed at the time of the honda accord accident here on palm beach road. one newspaper said they weren't drunk another said they were and racing with an audi.
media isn't trustworthy these days

Which news agency stated ''Vento brushed against another car’’

Seriously they should investigate about the reporter whether he is Underpaid or Overpaid

 

[nickandre]

quoting from the indian express

"Meanwhile, locals also informed the fire brigade. “By the time the team reached the spot, citizens had rescued the owner and shifted him to the hospital with the help of the police. It was a black Volkswagen Vento,” said fire station officer, Rajesh Jagtap. “The driver tried to take the car to the side of the road. In the process, the vehicle brushed against a parked car,” said Jagtap. “We extinguished the fire within 10 minutes, but the car was completely burnt. The other car that it had brushed against was partially damaged,” said Jagtap.

Meanwhile, the company promised to look into the matter, sources said."

 

[powerpacked]

quoting from the indian express

" “The driver tried to take the car to the side of the road. In the process, the vehicle brushed against a parked car,” said Jagtap. “We extinguished the fire within 10 minutes, but the car was completely burnt. The other car that it had brushed against was partially damaged,” said Jagtap.

Meanwhile, the company promised to look into the matter, sources said."

This is how creating a confusion and let the people think about brushing the car might catch the fire.

Actually Vento was already on fire and driver tried to take the car to side and then this brushing happened

This can be stated like burning car brushed other car.( might have helped to clear the confusion)

Again who are these sources to state that company has promised to look in the matter


Real time pathetic media.

 

[krish_go]

Re: Pictures of Automobiles Involved in Accidents

The way your car's heater works is by tapping into the car's cooling system,which takes heat from the engine coolant and uses it to warm up air, which then gets blown into the cabin.

The coolant then flows back to the radiator and loses even more heat.
Then it is pumped back through the engine and picks up heat, which intern goes back to the radiator, where some of the heat is radiated awayand continues until it picks up more heat.

This was the tip i had read in my Scorpio's manual.

Mukesh,
I saw this thread a little late But I am sorry to say this is a complete wrong information you got. Car heater has nothing to do with Collant flow through the engine.
The Only best way is to park the car in a safe/ side way probably under a shade and switch off the engine.
Get out of the car and give it some time to cool down.
Its a best pratice to Let the Bonnet be in closed position.