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> How many gasoline vehicles spontaneously burst into flame Many, I think, mostly maintenance related. Frequent causes involve old gaskets or cracked fuel line

> How many gasoline vehicles spontaneously burst into flame Many, I think, mostly maintenance related. Frequent causes involve old gaskets or cracked fuel lines dripping onto the exhaust manifold, right on the side of the engine.

DennisP 7y ago
Well, true, good point. I think much fewer while parked and turned off. But I do remember now my old VW Bug manual, which detailed at least four ways the little beast could catch itself on fire.
- hef19898 7y ago
  To be honest, the old VW Bug was technically a less than perfect car already back the day. A nice car, for sure and I love quirky old cars. But technically not perfect.
  - DennisP 7y ago
    Yeah "technically not perfect" pretty much sums up my experience with it :)
    - hef19898 7y ago
      On the other hand, four ways to self-ignite is an engineering feat in itself!
  - tomatotomato37 7y ago
    I mean it was essentially a mass produced shitbox designed to be affordable to someone living in the economic clusterfuck that was interwar Nazi Germany, you can't expect miracles
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>Many, I think, mostly maintenance related. Frequent causes involve old gaskets or cracked fuel lines dripping onto the exhaust manifold, right on the side of the engine. You're not wrong that fuel does sometimes catch fire but it is very rare for a fuel leak to cause a fire on its own. It usually happens after a fire starts elsewhere. Fuel system integrity in crashes has been scored in crash tests for a very, very long time (I recall reading about it when I was reviewing some microfiche with crash tests results of 70s pickups) so OEMs have been trying to build secure fuel systems for a long time and have gotten pretty good. With cross flow cylinder head designs (which every engine today has) there is no reason (it would be a waste of material to plumb it) to have fuel on the same side of the engine as the exhaust. The routing between the engine and the vehicle body basically always (i.e. I know of 0 exceptions but can't prove one doesn't exist) go out of their way not to run over exhaust. Fuel systems rarely have gasketed connections, almost everything is sealed with O-rings. Mature EV designs probably catch on fire less than ICE designs but not really for any of the reasons you specified. Fuel fires mostly come from crash damage to fuel tanks where the crash also leaves the vehicle overturned. Most fires come from electrical systems not related to the drive-train. Even engine fires are rarely fuel, animal nesting debris is a far more common cause.

DennisP 7y ago

Well, true, good point. I think much fewer while parked and turned off. But I do remember now my old VW Bug manual, which detailed at least four ways the little beast could catch itself on fire.

hef19898 7y ago
To be honest, the old VW Bug was technically a less than perfect car already back the day. A nice car, for sure and I love quirky old cars. But technically not perfect.
- DennisP 7y ago
  Yeah "technically not perfect" pretty much sums up my experience with it :)
  - hef19898 7y ago
    On the other hand, four ways to self-ignite is an engineering feat in itself!
- tomatotomato37 7y ago
  I mean it was essentially a mass produced shitbox designed to be affordable to someone living in the economic clusterfuck that was interwar Nazi Germany, you can't expect miracles

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

>Many, I think, mostly maintenance related. Frequent causes involve old gaskets or cracked fuel lines dripping onto the exhaust manifold, right on the side of the engine. You're not wrong that fuel does sometimes catch fire but it is very rare for a fuel leak to cause a fire on its own. It usually happens after a fire starts elsewhere. Fuel system integrity in crashes has been scored in crash tests for a very, very long time (I recall reading about it when I was reviewing some microfiche with crash tests results of 70s pickups) so OEMs have been trying to build secure fuel systems for a long time and have gotten pretty good. With cross flow cylinder head designs (which every engine today has) there is no reason (it would be a waste of material to plumb it) to have fuel on the same side of the engine as the exhaust. The routing between the engine and the vehicle body basically always (i.e. I know of 0 exceptions but can't prove one doesn't exist) go out of their way not to run over exhaust. Fuel systems rarely have gasketed connections, almost everything is sealed with O-rings. Mature EV designs probably catch on fire less than ICE designs but not really for any of the reasons you specified. Fuel fires mostly come from crash damage to fuel tanks where the crash also leaves the vehicle overturned. Most fires come from electrical systems not related to the drive-train. Even engine fires are rarely fuel, animal nesting debris is a far more common cause.