I have an irrational fear that?

Question

my car is going to spontaneously combust.
I have nothing to back this up, my car is old and noisy, but reliable and recently MOTed, I think it's more about my having to drive 2 hours every day and I hate driving, but please could you give me some cold hard facts about how unlikely this is, as it does occupy my thoughts a lot!
Thankyou

I did actually recently see a car burning on the side of the road- we saw it from a long way away and the flames were HUGE

Answer 1

Bad timing, fuel leaks and faulty electrics are the main causes of fire in vehicles.
All have warning signs. Smell of melting plastic in wiring, popping and backfiring from bad timing and the smell of petrol fumes filling the car through ventilation ports.
To ease your anxiety buy yourself a diesel vehicle because diesel requires a wick and flame to burn. Diesel only explodes under pressure and when mixed with oxygen.
Diesel fumes do not ignite like petrol fumes.
If you drop a cigarette into a bowl of petrol the fumes would burn but if the cigarette got through to the liquid without the fumes it would just go out like dropping it in water.
Diesel will just put the cigarette out.

Answer 2

It is very unlikely....

But it does happen. It happened to my parents. And if it had happened 5 or 10 minutes later I might have been burned alive as an infant.

It was a Plymouth Duster. They'd just bought it (used, but it was fairly late-model at the time), and had some service done at the dealer they bought it from (not a Plymouth dealer IIRC). I forget what it was, but a part that was originally metal was replaced with a plastic part. This would be okay were this part not right next to the exhaust manifold.

Anyhow, thing melted, caught fire, car burned up in the driveway.


What I suggest you do, if you really are afraid of this, is make sure that all the fuel lines in your car are in good condition. This is important everywhere, but in particular any place where the fuel line runs near the exhaust, and anyplace in the engine bay.

Make sure there is nothing plastic or rubber within a couple inches of the exhaust manifold (the pipes that lead out of your engine downwards under the car to the exhaust pipes.)

Make sure all your fuses are in good shape and you have the correct strength of fuse in each fuse slot.

Carry a small fire extinguisher in the car (really, that's always a good idea...better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.)

Oh, and unless the car burns up while you're sleeping in it, you are not in much danger from your car catching fire. With the exception of certain models which can catch fire in a rear-end collision (Ford Pinto, some years of Ford Crown Victoria) it will happen with enough warning for you to escape.

Answer 3

Honestly there are not many ways this could happen. One would be a fuel leak where the fuel could be heated to vapor AND ignited. It's almost certain that you would have a very obvious warning before this happened. You would be able to smell the fuel quite a bit before it reached the point of combustion. The smell would be VERY strong in the passenger compartment, probably to the point that you would exit the vehicle due to it's noxious nature.
The other would be to rupture the fuel tank in a collision and yet again have a way to ignite it. Most all fuel tanks on the road today are engineered to crush or fold long before cracking. They are also designed into the vehicle in an effort to protect them in such situations.
Gasoline will not explode, it only burns. If heated or contained the vapor can build up and cause an explosion. In your case I would say this is very very unlikely

Answer 4

There has been a few cars catch fire, but that has been due mainly to a leaky fuel line. They don't explode and ever so rarely will they catch fire. You have about as good a chance of hitting the lottery than your car exploding. In fact, you have a better chance of hitting the lottery than the car exploding.

When was the last time that you heard about a car blowing up? Good luck on overcoming your fear, it is pretty much unfounded. But it is still a fear that you have to come to terms with.

Answer 5

Well how many cars have YOU seen that are just burning away on the side of the road?? Yeah they can burn but you will know it long before the fire gets big enough to consume you----so get out and walk away. Fires are usually from bad maintenance---service a car regularly and by a real mechanic....should be OK

Answer 6

I don't have cold hard facts, but look around - how often do you see cars on fire?

Not very often, right? As long as your car isn't leaking fuel and doesn't have serious problems with the wiring, fire is unlikely.

So calm down, and keep your attention on what's going on in front of you, and you'll avoid the far more common spontaneous mishap of crashing into another car, solid object, pedestrian or animal.

Answer 7

Cars do burn big when they burn. It's amazing. So I don't think your fear is all that irrational. It's unlikely that your car will catch on fire, but if it does, you get out of it immediately.

They make a big, big fire when they burn.