Are Hybrids more likely to catch fire

[Babbage]

It's not just ford, All hybrid cars are generally dangerous.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...-hybrid-recall-wrangler-cherokee/75466533007/

Jeep recalls over 150,000 hybrid-electric vehicles for fire risk - Don't park in the garage.

5-6 fire trucks to put out 1 EV fire ? Sounds reasonable. Hopefully no town has 2 or 3 EV fires at once, they may loose the whole city.

Another ford : https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/tru...by-hybrid-battery/3HABMGFKPBHSNLYS3OVAIOFV6E/ (good thing it was outside) - Any armchair experts want to read this picture? "Definitely an engine bay fire."

No lithium bombs for me, I'm waiting for Hydrogen.

Honda Fire risk recall: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/honda-hybrids-recalled-due-to-fire-risk

Every major brand has some type of safety issue it seems with hybrids.

Sponsored

 

[Babbage]

That's really a poor excuse. For 10k I could fab up something to scoop them up off of the track just as fast as the vehicle can arrive.

They really don't like EVs because they dominate like no other.

HA Scoop up a car that is burning at close to 2000F (Two thousand degrees F) I wonder what material your car scooper would be made of?

Heck, quit your job now and sell these things to local FD, you'll be rich overnight!

 

[HammaMan]

No lithium bombs for me, I'm waiting for Hydrogen.

Hydrogen vehicles use lithium batteries as a buffer for the fuel cells. Hydrogen will never be practical. 8,000psi hydrogen tanks are literally the definition of a bomb. In california where they've been pushing the nonsense, it's roughly twice as expensive as fueling a gasoline vehicle which 5x as expensive as fueling an EV. Producing hydrogen also consumes 200% of the energy that charging an EV does for the same range.

Anyone with any portable electronics has "lithium bombs" all around them.

 

[HammaMan]

We have that fire blanket for our fire department. It costs @ $2500.00 each. Our plan is only to use it for exposure protection, ie. car in the driveway or garage/ car near a structure, otherwise we are going to let the EV fire burn it self out once we confirm no occupants.

You need a sprinkler type device to put under the vehicle as well. There's a couple devices on the market. To stop thermal runaway you've got to quench the heat. I'm kinda surprised at the lack of public facing development for solutions. I've not seen anyone as of yet create a spike to fill a battery full of CO2. Ship firefighting has gotten much smarter using high pressure water fog systems that work wonders.

I bet tesla could very easily come up with a system but that'd require them to acknowledge / feed the stigma which is just sad. NHTSA or a relevant agency needs to make one or 2 'one size fits most' approach to it. There's already lots of great info going into the hands of fire companies via tablets full of vehicle specific nuisances associated with their systems that are published by the manufacturers for de energizing the systems.

Extinguishers are great insurance for initial knockdown. It buys valuable time. They're under emphasized IMO.

 

[DadBald]

Here's the way I see it -

Every major manufacturer has has recalls for fire risk with some of their gas vehicles too. Noteworthy is the RAM HD recall from last year asking 300,000 vehicles to park outside. https://www.kbb.com/car-news/recall-alert-ram-hd-truck-fire-risk/

In the case of the powerboost - you have a regular 3.5L ecoboost engine, with all the regular 3.5L ecoboost fire risks. Then you add the hybrid battery and motor and high voltage wiring - sure, you'll get some hybrid-caused fires, on top of the regular 3.5L ecoboost fires. Therefore, I expect hybrid vehicles to have a higher fire rate than gas vehicle fires.

What percentage that is remains nebulous... from the numbers I have seen, it appears to me that fully electric vehicles have lesser risk of fires than traditional ICE vehicles. But as mentioned earlier in this thread that number is not immediately available from any one source. But, (speaking on behalf of myself and my research and my convictions here), if EV's have a lesser fire risk, then the added risk of a hybrid fire is minimal at worst, and negligible at best.

I wouldn't get your undies in a bunch. Seems pretty "safe" to me - as far as vehicle safety in general goes.

 

[Chappy133]

You need a sprinkler type device to put under the vehicle as well. There's a couple devices on the market. To stop thermal runaway you've got to quench the heat. I'm kinda surprised at the lack of public facing development for solutions. I've not seen anyone as of yet create a spike to fill a battery full of CO2. Ship firefighting has gotten much smarter using high pressure water fog systems that work wonders.

I bet tesla could very easily come up with a system but that'd require them to acknowledge / feed the stigma which is just sad. NHTSA or a relevant agency needs to make one or 2 'one size fits most' approach to it. There's already lots of great info going into the hands of fire companies via tablets full of vehicle specific nuisances associated with their systems that are published by the manufacturers for de energizing the systems.

Extinguishers are great insurance for initial knockdown. It buys valuable time. They're under emphasized IMO.

My understanding is in Europe they drag them into a large container. Fill with water and leave them submerged for a week since they can reignite for days afterwards.

More research and guidance is needed for suppression of these type of fires.

 

[Calson]

The local fire department substation near my house is near a freeway and more than half their call outs are for vehicle fires and these are regular ICE vehicles.

I always have carried a fire extinguisher in my cars and trucks and also carry an adjustable spanner wrench to be able to disconnect the battery's positive lead when there is an electrical short.

The problem with articles like this is that there is no perspective. It is like shark attacks in Florida doubling from 1 person per year to 2 people in one year with no context. More people die from dog attacks but after the movie Jaws was released many went on shark killing frenzies.

 

[Fantasy-150]

Yes hybrid vehicles are more likely to catch fire. Hybrids have a pressurized fuel system, since regular ice vehicles do not have a pressurized system they are less likely to catch fire. The ice component on a hybrid is the culprit not the battery side. The hv batteries could certainly add fuel to the fire if exposed.

 

[v8440]

Huh?

 

[JJSnell]

LoL...

 

[v8440]

Please tell us about this pressurized fuel system hybrids have that non hybrids lack.

 

[JExpedition07]

Don’t think so. The V8 runs the highest pressure fuel system out of any of the F-150 engines, the 5.0’s high side fuel rail is running 1,000 psi higher than either EcoBoost. We V8ers are at 3,000 psi stock vs the EcoBoosters at their measly 2,000 psi stock pressure. I don’t think your math is checking out.

 

[Je1279]

@Fantasy-150 Are you possibly confusing hybrids with diesels? I am both an F150 guy and a tractor guy and I know that the fuel rails on diesel tractors operate at an insane psi.

 

[rjinaz]

Don’t think so. The V8 runs the highest pressure fuel system out of any of the F-150 engines, the 5.0’s high side fuel rail is running 1,000 psi higher than either EcoBoost. We V8ers are at 3,000 psi stock vs the EcoBoosters at their measly 2,000 psi stock pressure. I don’t think your math is checking out.

I remember back when I was a mechanic, Audi CIS systems running at 90-95psi was considered "high pressure". ?
Any EFI system is a pressurized system. Hybrid or not.
Carbureted systems typically run between 4-8psi. Still high enough to spray fuel everywhere if the line breaks.

As for the story, their data is suspect. Hybrids are still ICE systems and subject to the same failures as non-hybrids. What was the cause of the fires? If a fuel line ruptured on a hybrid, do they still classify it as a hybrid failure?

The video of the truck clearly shows this was an engine fire, not a HV battery failure. Even in the aftermath, the rear of the cab and bed were largely intact. If it were HV battery fire, those would have been melted away.

 

[Wookz]

When I was in the Navy, they told us class D fires (burning metal) were to be dealt with either of two ways: Cover it with sand or throw it over the side.

Hahaha, sounds about right for the navy. Army here we just leave it and then say it’s user level repair ??

Sponsored