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19 March 2024

How to prevent your car catching fire?

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By Majorie van Leijen

You may have seen it happening; a vehicle suddenly catches fire while on the road. If not seen first-hand, images and stories of flaming cars may have got the attention in local media.

Every year more than 100 vehicles catch fire in the emirate of Dubai alone.

In the period 2010-2013 fire incidents in transportation means on the ground accounted for the most common case of fire in the emirate.

Very often the driver of the fated vehicle later on claims to have no idea how the ignition could have taken place. And with the automobile mostly gutted, it is hard to find out what lead to the accident.

Shehabe Al Badawy, international lecturer and fire safety trainer at Dubai Civil Defence discussed various fire accidents and their challenges.

Fire in vehicles mostly occurs due to the behaviour of the car owner. Improper maintenance, racing and illegal modification are among the most common causes of fire, he explained.

The failure to perform regular maintenance was also named as the main risk factor by Rashid Hamar Ain Al Darmaki, Director of Al Ain Civil Defence last year.

Proper maintenance of a vehicle seems to be the key to preventive action of a vehicle fire, and groups together a host of possible risk factors that can lead to the ignition of not addressed.

Why cars burn


According to The Chandler Law Group, and American law firm the majority of car fires<https://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=10413178&nav=menu496_2_1> begin in the engine compartment - where most of the working parts of the car are.

Any normal car contains around six flammable liquids at any time, including gasoline, they point out.

With a highly flammable substance such as gasoline in a highly heated vehicle, there are several scenarios that can lead to a dangerous situation. Think of a fuel system leak, where the flammable material is likely to spill over to heated elements in the car; the contact will easily lead to fire.

But also other flammable substances can cause a fire. Think of engine oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, brake fluid and even engine coolant; all of those fluids are circulating in the heated car, and if anything goes wrong with their host equipment an ignition is easily made.

Fluids are not the only risk factor under the hood. A regular battery can cause problems too. The battery's charging cycles can cause explosive hydrogen<https://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/hybrid-technology/hydrogen-cars.htm> gas to build up in the engine bay, and the electrical current the battery provides can produce sparks that can quickly ignite a fluid drip or leaked vapors.

Why engines overheat

An overheated engine is often the cause of a fire. When an engine overheats it can make the internal fluids rise to dangerous temperatures and spill out of their designated areas of circulation. When they find their way to other hot parts of the car, the ignition is easily made.

But what causes the overheating of the engine?

It is certainly not the high temperatures alone. Anything that decreases the cooling system's ability to absorb the heat can be the cause of overheating. Think of a low coolant level, a coolant leak<https://www.aa1car.com/library/coolant_leaks.htm>, a defective thermostat, or even a defective radiator cap; all preventable by proper maintenance.

In all these cases, something else needs to go wrong before one element in the car starts the ignition.

Although there are plenty of risk factors under the hood, these factors will not lead to a fire all by themselves. A failure of any kind can be the igniting facto, which points again to the importance of proper maintenance.