Spontaneously Combusting Peugeot
Discussion
A colleague told me a funny tale today about the Peugeot 407 her husband bought nearly new six months ago suddenly going up in flames as he was driving along. The fire was along the underside of the car to the back end. The dealer claimed it started in the catalytic converter due to cross contamination resulting from someone putting petrol in it when it's a diesel. Neither my colleague or her husband have ever put petrol in the car though they bought it with 3,000 miles already on the clock as it had been used by the dealer manager previously. They've been told the car has a holding tank in addition to the fuel tank and as they were running low on fuel coming home from holiday and the car may have drawn on petrol that had been there for a while.
The dealer is taking no responsibility and Peugeot say that as it's carelessness they can't claim on the warranty for repairs. The car incurred £3,000 worth of damage before a fire extinguisher was used to put the fire out. They're now looking to get an insurance payout.
This seems like a funny tale to me as, if petrol is put in a diesel car, the damage would generally be done straight away. I'm not sure the dealer or Peugeot are being entirely honest in what the cause is and who's at fault. Can anybody suggest what else could be the cause and what my colleague and her husband can do?
The dealer is taking no responsibility and Peugeot say that as it's carelessness they can't claim on the warranty for repairs. The car incurred £3,000 worth of damage before a fire extinguisher was used to put the fire out. They're now looking to get an insurance payout.
This seems like a funny tale to me as, if petrol is put in a diesel car, the damage would generally be done straight away. I'm not sure the dealer or Peugeot are being entirely honest in what the cause is and who's at fault. Can anybody suggest what else could be the cause and what my colleague and her husband can do?
Blakewater said:
A colleague told me a funny tale today about the Peugeot 407 her husband bought nearly new six months ago suddenly going up in flames as he was driving along.
The fire was along the underside of the car to the back end. The dealer claimed it started in the catalytic converter due to cross contamination resulting from someone putting petrol in it when it's a diesel.
Neither my colleague or her husband have ever put petrol in the car though they bought it with 3,000 miles already on the clock as it had been used by the dealer manager previously.
They've been told the car has a holding tank in addition to the fuel tank and as they were running low on fuel coming home from holiday and the car may have drawn on petrol that had been there for a while.
The dealer is taking no responsibility and Peugeot say that as it's carelessness they can't claim on the warranty for repairs. The car incurred £3,000 worth of damage before a fire extinguisher was used to put the fire out. They're now looking to get an insurance payout.
This seems like a funny tale to me as, if petrol is put in a diesel car, the damage would generally be done straight away. I'm not sure the dealer or Peugeot are being entirely honest in what the cause is and who's at fault. Can anybody suggest what else could be the cause and what my colleague and her husband can do?
I'm sorry, thats all the help I can give.The fire was along the underside of the car to the back end. The dealer claimed it started in the catalytic converter due to cross contamination resulting from someone putting petrol in it when it's a diesel.
Neither my colleague or her husband have ever put petrol in the car though they bought it with 3,000 miles already on the clock as it had been used by the dealer manager previously.
They've been told the car has a holding tank in addition to the fuel tank and as they were running low on fuel coming home from holiday and the car may have drawn on petrol that had been there for a while.
The dealer is taking no responsibility and Peugeot say that as it's carelessness they can't claim on the warranty for repairs. The car incurred £3,000 worth of damage before a fire extinguisher was used to put the fire out. They're now looking to get an insurance payout.
This seems like a funny tale to me as, if petrol is put in a diesel car, the damage would generally be done straight away. I'm not sure the dealer or Peugeot are being entirely honest in what the cause is and who's at fault. Can anybody suggest what else could be the cause and what my colleague and her husband can do?
I very much doubt that putting the wrong fuel in the car would cause the cat to fail like that. Generally if the cat fails then the honeycomb inside will collapse causing a bit of a blockage, resulting in a loss of power. It will get (very) hot, but it's not unknown for a blocked cat to glow as it is so hot, but I doubt that this would cause a fire unless the cat was too close to the fuel lines/tank- in which case it would be a f
king dangerous design.
king dangerous design.STW2010 said:
I very much doubt that putting the wrong fuel in the car would cause the cat to fail like that. Generally if the cat fails then the honeycomb inside will collapse causing a bit of a blockage, resulting in a loss of power. It will get (very) hot, but it's not unknown for a blocked cat to glow as it is so hot, but I doubt that this would cause a fire unless the cat was too close to the fuel lines/tank- in which case it would be a fking dangerous design.
I would imagine a modern car like that would go into limp mode if there's too much back pressure in the exhaust. king dangerous design.Apparently the first he knew of it was when smoke started drifting into the car. He looked in his mirror and it was billowing out of the boot and the guy behind was flashing his lights to get his attention. He opened the bonnet as no smoke was coming from there and the engine bay was fine. It's just along the underneath of the car up to the back end that's been on fire.
Pretty standard manufacurer's response to a vehicle fire TBH.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t...
http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26...
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answer/20638/my-...
Not particularly helpful I know but this is what insurance is for, and the manufacturer knows that. No manufacturer would ever admit fault to cars catching fire because the hysterical reaction they would get from the media would lose them millions.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t...
http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26...
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answer/20638/my-...
Not particularly helpful I know but this is what insurance is for, and the manufacturer knows that. No manufacturer would ever admit fault to cars catching fire because the hysterical reaction they would get from the media would lose them millions.
Thanks. So the best course of action is simply to let the insurance engineer look at the car and if he believes the fault lies with Peugeot the insurer will pursue the cost of the payout from them. My colleague has been concerned that the insurer wants to send the car to a garage of their choice and she wants it to go to the main dealer where she's sure proper Peugeot parts will be fitted. I would have thought though the insurer has an obligation to ensure the manufacturer's proper parts are fitted wherever the car goes.
I guess one moral from this is to always carry a fire extinguisher in your car as that's what saved this one from being a completely burned out wreck. It also means there's enough left to maybe identify the cause. I can't imagine anything worse than watching my car burning and not being able to do anything about it, except for someone being stuck inside of course. I know a few people who've said they wouldn't have a house with an integrated garage because of the risk of the car inside bursting into flames. I always thought it was quite a silly concern, I didn't realise cars spontaneously combusted so often.
This business about it being because petrol was put in the diesel car though seems like a fob off and a deliberate attempt to simply blame them and take responsibility away from Peugeot and the dealer.
I guess one moral from this is to always carry a fire extinguisher in your car as that's what saved this one from being a completely burned out wreck. It also means there's enough left to maybe identify the cause. I can't imagine anything worse than watching my car burning and not being able to do anything about it, except for someone being stuck inside of course. I know a few people who've said they wouldn't have a house with an integrated garage because of the risk of the car inside bursting into flames. I always thought it was quite a silly concern, I didn't realise cars spontaneously combusted so often.
This business about it being because petrol was put in the diesel car though seems like a fob off and a deliberate attempt to simply blame them and take responsibility away from Peugeot and the dealer.
Its more likely that the dpf regen fluid has caused this fire,probably started pumping it in and just didnt stop.
The temp sensor fitted in the flange betwen the cat and dpf which shuts the regeneration system down once it reaches the right temp can some times fail/melt or the dpf flow/pressure sensor has failed,leading to the same outcome.
The temp sensor fitted in the flange betwen the cat and dpf which shuts the regeneration system down once it reaches the right temp can some times fail/melt or the dpf flow/pressure sensor has failed,leading to the same outcome.
Blakewater said:
I know a few people who've said they wouldn't have a house with an integrated garage because of the risk of the car inside bursting into flames. I always thought it was quite a silly concern, I didn't realise cars spontaneously combusted so often.
What? I can count on the fingers on my knee the amount of cars I've seen or heard about that have caught fire while off.Moose1978 said:
ZeeTacoe said:
What? I can count on the fingers on my knee the amount of cars I've seen or heard about that have caught fire while off.
I'll pop your cherry for you then and give you your first one
Seems a common fault on cars with a preference of white and blue striped shirts and strings of onions... I also know of a 306 that caught alight entirely on it's own overnight and destroyed this guys other non-French car.
Another reason not to buy one.
Glad the OP's friends weren't hurt in the fire!
Another reason not to buy one.
Glad the OP's friends weren't hurt in the fire!
Astra Dan said:
Seems a common fault on cars with a preference of white and blue striped shirts and strings of onions... I also know of a 306 that caught alight entirely on it's own overnight and destroyed this guys other non-French car.
Another reason not to buy one.
Glad the OP's friends weren't hurt in the fire!
Them, and VW and BMW and whoever else you care to mention. See my first post. There are cases of cars from all manufacturers catching fire. Personally I've heard of more fires with VAG FSI engines than anything else.Another reason not to buy one.
Glad the OP's friends weren't hurt in the fire!
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