Gas Fumes In prius explosion

No. Open gap spark is the only thing inside the car hot enough to ignite the gasoline vapors.

You are in more danger from the idiots that don't turn off their car while filling up at the gas station. Their catalytic converters are plenty hot enough to cause a back flare.

 

All cars have something electrical in them so I doubt there is a more or less of a chance for an explosion. I also think you need the correct ratio for an explosion to occur you would probably asphyxiate before that happened or it would just catch fire. BTW why isn't the gas can sealed?

Wildkow

 

ISN'T your title a bit melodramatic?????

GAS FUMES IN PRIUS EXPLOSION = omg, a prius explodes, then there are gas fumes!!!!!!!!

on a constructive note, use an approved container meant for gasoline. seal the container properly.

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That's because he has gas fumes in the brain. Exposure to gasoline is more strongly linked to pancreatic cancer than even smoking.....that's on top of all the other cancers it can cause.

How on earth did you not instantly vacate the care and figure out why your DOT approved gas container was not sealed properly???????

 

Wouldn't a catalytic converter stay hot for a while? If so, then turning off the car won't allow it to cool very much. (And, yes, I agree people should turn the engine off anyway.)

 

Hi All,

Filaments in incandescent lamps are nearly short circuit resistance when first turned on. So, a hefty spark jumps across the switch contactors. As the filament heats up, its resistance goes up, and the current becomes self limiting. If the fumes were in the area of the door switches, which are not explosion-proof rated, that would start off a combustion event. The spark does not need to be large, just have sufficient energy density.

Hybrid system EMF's in the Prius cabin have been measured as less than that of the magnetic field of the Earth. So, risk of the EMF's starting a combustion event from those fields is far than turning the car around a corner quickly in the Earth's magnetic field. As cars have been cornering fast for years, without blowing up, its unlikely this is a significant risk.

The most common initiator of combustion events in non-collision accidents, is going back to the cabin seat during refueling, rather than standing by the nozzle for the whole pumping. The ignition is caused by the static generated by sliding into and out of the cabin, on the seat fabric. When the driver reaches for the pump, a static discarge to the pump handle, near where the gaseous fumes are being pushed out of the tank. If the fumes are dense enough, a combustion event can occur.

 

Common? As in this happens on a regular basis? Exploding gas stations are lighting up the sky in every major city?
Give me a break.

 

Hi KayakerNC,

Its rare in the more humid states. But at 5 F, the air is very dry, and people do not like to stand by the fuel nozzle. You know, because 5 F is very cold. It happens mostly in cold winter areas. Check out You-tube.

I said "common initiator", not that combustion events are common.

 

Dude, roll down the windows, the fumes are killing brain cells.

 

"most common initiator" could happen once in a billion times, but if the next most likely initiator happens once in two billion, the first one is the most common initiator.

Gasoline fires during refilling do happen, but seldom result in exploding gas stations. Many localities require fire suppression systems for this reason.

Tom

 

I'm suprised Hollywood hasn't decided yet how to handle the Prius in a car crash.

Now with Hollywood movies we all know that cars violently explode the moment the front bumper hits an object (or a bullet is shot at the car). I wonder if Hollywood will decide that lighting bolts will come out of the Prius when it does a Dukes of Hazard-like jump in the air and lands on the front bumper.

 

You've got to transport gas in a proper way....
If you do smell strong vapor, something's not right about your transport tank.
Is the tank even in Red color?

 

Please note I'm not encouraging stupidity, as there is enough of that going around already.

Forget the hybrid components. All wiring is -outside- of the passenger cabin. The battery is fully enclosed in a metal box, -in- the cabin, but even if you could fill this box with an ignitable mix of gasoline vapour and air, the flame would extinguish before it left the box (I don't think there is enough volume in there to generate enough gas pressure to rupture the box, and the flame front would extinguish exiting the metal box due to the energy being absorbed by the metal - a common way to "explosion proof" electrical and electronic devices). The only spark source in there is the disconnect relay, and it's enclosed as well. There is, however, a way to force the cabin air into the battery box - the battery cooling fan. It's unlikely it would be running, but it could pump some fuel vapour into and out of the battery box. If the cabin was full of ignitable vapour you would suffocate inside, so I doubt you could do that. You'd be forced to open a window, dropping the air/fuel below ignitable ratios.

As far as switches in the cabin, you have to wait a long time before the gas in the cabin can infiltrate such enclosed spaces (you have to force the heavy gas vapour into the switch - where is the air flow from?).

I'm not convinced a static discharge can ignite an air/fuel mixture. There's not much energy there. It's not the same as the ICE ignition system, for which much engineering must be done to get enough energy to cause an ignition. Most of the videos I've seen have the ignition occur outside the car while the guy/girl is holding the fuel nossle, not when they grab it. Most of the time the engine is running. I'd finger the cat. converter or exhaust as the source of ignition (or another car nearby). Even then it's difficult, evidenced by how many morons fuel with the engine running, and how few are engulfed by flames.

 

I figure Ball lightning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
:car::smash::flame::boom: