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Most cars don't, but gas and electric cars both occasionally do so. I would guess that the rate of cars catching fire after an accident is actually higher for g

by dv_dt 6y ago

Most cars don't, but gas and electric cars both occasionally do so. I would guess that the rate of cars catching fire after an accident is actually higher for gas cars. If one wants a more guaranteed way out - I advise buying a safety hammer for your car. They have a pointed impact head to shatter safety glass, as well as a belt cutter in case your seat belt is jammed.

dragontamer 6y ago
There are still fewer than 2-million Teslas in existence. And the Ford Pinto (yes, the Pinto. The "exploding car" that was the subject of "Fight Club" the movie) had 27 fire-related deaths around the 2.2-million car sold. The number of Tesla-fires is quickly approaching Ford Pinto levels. (Mostly because the Ford Pinto fires were overblown: as a subject matter in a popular movie and pop culture, they really weren't much more explosive than other cars) -------- Furthermore: the explosions of Tesla vehicles are requiring far more care. There needed to be over 20,000+ gallons of water over four hours to douse the flames in this very crash. Only electric vehicles have that kind of sustained, multi-hour fire problem. Fire departments know full well how to put out a regular gasoline fire. But Li-Ion is kind of dangerous tech.
- dv_dt 6y ago
  Gas cars and trucks can have multi hour accidents too. Here’s a seven hour accident. https://www.wcax.com/2021/03/03/car-fire-closes-part-of-i-93-for-hours https://www.wcax.com/2021/03/03/car-fire-closes-part-of-i-93... Last time the stats were visited on this a couple of years ago it seems has cars catch fire about 10x more than electric cars.
  - Alupis 6y ago
    There's a big difference between neglecting maintenance on a vehicle until it overheats enough to catch fire, and a vehicle which bursts into flames regularly upon impact while people are trapped inside. We get you like Tesla... but that doesn't excuse being deliberately obtuse. You cannot hand wave away these people that were stuck inside a fire bomb of a vehicle which required about 20 fire trucks worth of water[1] to extinguish the flames... For what should have been a routine accident response. The people inside, if still alive, had no chance of survival. That's really bad... [1] https://www.solonohio.org/203/Fire-Trucks#:~:text=Contemporary%20fire%20engines%20carry%20their,between%201%2C000%20gpm%20-%202%2C000%20gpm https://www.solonohio.org/203/Fire-Trucks#:~:text=Contempora....
    - dv_dt 6y ago
      Looking at the quantitative picture and thinking systematically is trying to be obtuse? I would also think about gas tanker fires and the systematic reduction of those on the types of vehicles on the road with more electric vehicles. Many gas automotive fires don't have to do with maintenance either - that seems like a really odd assumption.
      - Alupis 6y ago
        Do you have any evidence to backup your assertions? You stated upthread that you'd guess gasoline fueled vehicles catch fire more frequently than EV vehicles... you're going to need evidence to backup such an outlandish claim, and the cause of the fire would also need to be an accident such as the one this Tesla was involved in. It's actually quite difficult to ignite gasoline in liquid form (which is what is in the fuel lines and fuel tank of an automobile). It must be a vapor, and it must be in the presence of an ignition source. ICE vehicles have been designed over the last 100 years to precisely not explode upon impact. Real life isn't hollywood... cars just don't explode because of an accident... you can even shoot a full gas tank with a high caliber rifle and it'll still not explode nor catch fire. The problem you are equating to vehicles just does not exist anywhere except electronic vehicles powered by these Lithium-Ion batteries... like what is found in your average Tesla.
        dv_dt 6y ago
        https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/US-Fire-Problem/osvehiclefires.pdf https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-st... From the report: "Vehicle fires accounted for 16 percent of the 1.3 million fires reported to US fire departments. Vehicle fires also caused 15 percentof all civilian fire deaths and 10 percent of all reported civilian fire injuries. In 2018, only fires in one- and two- family homes claimed more lives than vehicle fires. Vehicle fires caused 4.5 times the number of deaths as nonresidential structure fires and 1.6 times the number of apartment fire deaths."
        6y ago

by dv_dt 6y ago

dragontamer 6y ago

There are still fewer than 2-million Teslas in existence. And the Ford Pinto (yes, the Pinto. The "exploding car" that was the subject of "Fight Club" the movie) had 27 fire-related deaths around the 2.2-million car sold. The number of Tesla-fires is quickly approaching Ford Pinto levels. (Mostly because the Ford Pinto fires were overblown: as a subject matter in a popular movie and pop culture, they really weren't much more explosive than other cars) -------- Furthermore: the explosions of Tesla vehicles are requiring far more care. There needed to be over 20,000+ gallons of water over four hours to douse the flames in this very crash. Only electric vehicles have that kind of sustained, multi-hour fire problem. Fire departments know full well how to put out a regular gasoline fire. But Li-Ion is kind of dangerous tech.

dv_dt 6y ago
Gas cars and trucks can have multi hour accidents too. Here’s a seven hour accident. https://www.wcax.com/2021/03/03/car-fire-closes-part-of-i-93-for-hours https://www.wcax.com/2021/03/03/car-fire-closes-part-of-i-93... Last time the stats were visited on this a couple of years ago it seems has cars catch fire about 10x more than electric cars.
- Alupis 6y ago
  There's a big difference between neglecting maintenance on a vehicle until it overheats enough to catch fire, and a vehicle which bursts into flames regularly upon impact while people are trapped inside. We get you like Tesla... but that doesn't excuse being deliberately obtuse. You cannot hand wave away these people that were stuck inside a fire bomb of a vehicle which required about 20 fire trucks worth of water[1] to extinguish the flames... For what should have been a routine accident response. The people inside, if still alive, had no chance of survival. That's really bad... [1] https://www.solonohio.org/203/Fire-Trucks#:~:text=Contemporary%20fire%20engines%20carry%20their,between%201%2C000%20gpm%20-%202%2C000%20gpm https://www.solonohio.org/203/Fire-Trucks#:~:text=Contempora....
  - dv_dt 6y ago
    Looking at the quantitative picture and thinking systematically is trying to be obtuse? I would also think about gas tanker fires and the systematic reduction of those on the types of vehicles on the road with more electric vehicles. Many gas automotive fires don't have to do with maintenance either - that seems like a really odd assumption.
    - Alupis 6y ago
      Do you have any evidence to backup your assertions? You stated upthread that you'd guess gasoline fueled vehicles catch fire more frequently than EV vehicles... you're going to need evidence to backup such an outlandish claim, and the cause of the fire would also need to be an accident such as the one this Tesla was involved in. It's actually quite difficult to ignite gasoline in liquid form (which is what is in the fuel lines and fuel tank of an automobile). It must be a vapor, and it must be in the presence of an ignition source. ICE vehicles have been designed over the last 100 years to precisely not explode upon impact. Real life isn't hollywood... cars just don't explode because of an accident... you can even shoot a full gas tank with a high caliber rifle and it'll still not explode nor catch fire. The problem you are equating to vehicles just does not exist anywhere except electronic vehicles powered by these Lithium-Ion batteries... like what is found in your average Tesla.
      - dv_dt 6y ago
        https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/US-Fire-Problem/osvehiclefires.pdf https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-st... From the report: "Vehicle fires accounted for 16 percent of the 1.3 million fires reported to US fire departments. Vehicle fires also caused 15 percentof all civilian fire deaths and 10 percent of all reported civilian fire injuries. In 2018, only fires in one- and two- family homes claimed more lives than vehicle fires. Vehicle fires caused 4.5 times the number of deaths as nonresidential structure fires and 1.6 times the number of apartment fire deaths."
        6y ago