Discussion
That's rather horrifying, Certainly an unusual time to catch fire, but these things tend not to be the most convenient.
What did suprise me is the lack of an extinguisher on board in such a highly tuned car - I've got one mounted in the passenger compartment in the Civic; Did that prior to any tuning / Modification (Especially things like the turbo blanket that increase risk if saturated in fluids)
The lack of any kind of service / emergency brake despite maintaining electrical power is also alarming! - Might start packing a boatanchor too :P
What did suprise me is the lack of an extinguisher on board in such a highly tuned car - I've got one mounted in the passenger compartment in the Civic; Did that prior to any tuning / Modification (Especially things like the turbo blanket that increase risk if saturated in fluids)
The lack of any kind of service / emergency brake despite maintaining electrical power is also alarming! - Might start packing a boatanchor too :P
I know of two people who've had a car catch fire whilst driving along.
A colleague's Insignia had an engine compartment fire which started when he was going down the A14 at 70ish. He immediately pulled off to try put it out .... in a petrol station, which in retrospect probably wasn't the best choice (fortunately the whole lot didn't go up but I think quite a few fire engines turned up!)
A mates (rather elderly) Passage caught fire in the cabin whilst he was, erm, "making progress" on the M25 20 ish years ago. It was the heater fan switch which expired, but instead of just smouldering, most of the centre switch panel caught light - he didn't have a fire extinguisher, so ripped it out burning his hands a fair bit and lobbed it out of the window!
A colleague's Insignia had an engine compartment fire which started when he was going down the A14 at 70ish. He immediately pulled off to try put it out .... in a petrol station, which in retrospect probably wasn't the best choice (fortunately the whole lot didn't go up but I think quite a few fire engines turned up!)
A mates (rather elderly) Passage caught fire in the cabin whilst he was, erm, "making progress" on the M25 20 ish years ago. It was the heater fan switch which expired, but instead of just smouldering, most of the centre switch panel caught light - he didn't have a fire extinguisher, so ripped it out burning his hands a fair bit and lobbed it out of the window!
Kes Arevo said:
I don't get how they couldn't stop. I presume it's a manual, so use the gears.
Frankly I would have just scrubbed the wall.
DSG auto, presumably gone into neutral? Weird though.Frankly I would have just scrubbed the wall.
I see from the video the cause is a "melted" brake line - sizeable bet on it being one that's rubbed through because it's been slammed/had the calipers replaced without checking the clearance at full droop and lock etc.
Had a Mk1 Clio catch fire on me as I was driving it. Dash lights dimmed, lost power. Pulled to the roadside and immediately smoke started coming from under the bonnet.
Fire brigade arrived eventually (I'd hauled all my stuff out the boot while it was blazing merrily away up front) but it was gutted up to the A pillars.
I'd had the clutch replaced on the Saturday before. Turned out they hadn't tightened the starter cable nut. It must have sparked and/or overheated til the cable insulation or some bulkhead material around it caught alight, and made its way up to the fusebox directly above.
If you must have a vehicle fire while driving, that's possibly the ideal scenario!
There was no way a small extinguisher would have put the fire out by the time I'd got the car stopped, and I didn't much want to lift the bonnet and draught more air to the fire, but nevertheless I carry an extinguisher in my cars now. Would maybe make me feel better to have tried it, even if it didn't put it out.
Fire brigade arrived eventually (I'd hauled all my stuff out the boot while it was blazing merrily away up front) but it was gutted up to the A pillars.
I'd had the clutch replaced on the Saturday before. Turned out they hadn't tightened the starter cable nut. It must have sparked and/or overheated til the cable insulation or some bulkhead material around it caught alight, and made its way up to the fusebox directly above.
If you must have a vehicle fire while driving, that's possibly the ideal scenario!
There was no way a small extinguisher would have put the fire out by the time I'd got the car stopped, and I didn't much want to lift the bonnet and draught more air to the fire, but nevertheless I carry an extinguisher in my cars now. Would maybe make me feel better to have tried it, even if it didn't put it out.
My first thought was why not open the passenger door and use the door and concrete wall to slow down, yes you'd destroy the passenger door, but that's an easyish fix (new door).
Been tempted to at least try some weaving between 2 lanes (inner lane and hard shoulder) to scrub some sort of speed as well.
I wouldn't have sat in the car for that long
Easy to type when you don't have a fire in your face though.
Been tempted to at least try some weaving between 2 lanes (inner lane and hard shoulder) to scrub some sort of speed as well.
I wouldn't have sat in the car for that long
Easy to type when you don't have a fire in your face though.
My first Megane Convertible (Ph.2) developed an electrical short behind the dash one afternoon on the A19 near Dalton Piercy. Dash lights flickered and dimmed, small acrid electrical smell, then billows of white smoke pouring from beneath the dash.
Managed to get into a lay-by and out of the car before the interior was engulfed.
Pretty frightening when your stood there and the tyres start to explode like mortars.
Managed to get into a lay-by and out of the car before the interior was engulfed.
Pretty frightening when your stood there and the tyres start to explode like mortars.
One of my friends was at home one evening, his car parked on his drive when he hear a bit of a commotion outside and odd light. He went outside and found a car on fire, only a bit at the time but getting worse and the owner phoning the emergency services. By the time they arrived the car was burning up nicely. It got put out quickly.
Now, this car had pulled up on the road but behind my mates car on the drive, and only the pavements width from his car. The heat had caused some paintwork bubbling, particularly on the plastic parts like bumpers and also tail lights. It was all sorted on the others insurance but not before they had initially said 50/50! Oh how he laughed..
Now, this car had pulled up on the road but behind my mates car on the drive, and only the pavements width from his car. The heat had caused some paintwork bubbling, particularly on the plastic parts like bumpers and also tail lights. It was all sorted on the others insurance but not before they had initially said 50/50! Oh how he laughed..
languagetimothy said:
One of my friends was at home one evening, his car parked on his drive when he hear a bit of a commotion outside and odd light. He went outside and found a car on fire, only a bit at the time but getting worse and the owner phoning the emergency services. By the time they arrived the car was burning up nicely. It got put out quickly.
Now, this car had pulled up on the road but behind my mates car on the drive, and only the pavements width from his car. The heat had caused some paintwork bubbling, particularly on the plastic parts like bumpers and also tail lights. It was all sorted on the others insurance but not before they had initially said 50/50! Oh how he laughed..
Insurers will do anything to go 50/50, I swear!Now, this car had pulled up on the road but behind my mates car on the drive, and only the pavements width from his car. The heat had caused some paintwork bubbling, particularly on the plastic parts like bumpers and also tail lights. It was all sorted on the others insurance but not before they had initially said 50/50! Oh how he laughed..
My car fire was abrupt. Went around a roundabout and a red light came on, cutting out and losing power. Pulled over just as it conked out. Smoke from the bonnet was immediate so I opened the bonnet to inspect the damage. Greeted by a fire that was all too pleased to have a whole planet's worth of oxygen to get jiggy with. I dropped the bonnet, ran a short distance away (I'm overweight and still annoyed about having to run) and tried asking Siri to call the emergency services since rain on a touch screen wasn't working very well. After about 30 seconds of waiting for Siri to achieve absolutely nothing, I faffed more and got 999 dialled. The delightful lady answered and I said in a rather flustered tone "help, my car is on fire!" to which she responded "would you like police, fire or ambulance?". Oh well, I was hoping for the f*****g Thunderbirds but I suppose fire will do. The fire service arrived instantly and put the car out in seconds. The car could've been saved with a new front end and wiring loom.
Krikkit said:
Kes Arevo said:
I don't get how they couldn't stop. I presume it's a manual, so use the gears.
Frankly I would have just scrubbed the wall.
DSG auto, presumably gone into neutral? Weird though.Frankly I would have just scrubbed the wall.
I see from the video the cause is a "melted" brake line - sizeable bet on it being one that's rubbed through because it's been slammed/had the calipers replaced without checking the clearance at full droop and lock etc.
When the video started and he said he had built an '1100bhp' Audi he is garage, I thought, ah, that will be why then.
The new owner had de-cated it....
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