2008 Prius blows up.

yikes, those pictures are nasty. maybe she'll join here and tell us more.

 

Here's a picture. Wth?

 

I read through the thread she posted in. There's a lot of ignorant speculation. What people don't know about the Prius is a lot. But that doesn't stop them.

 

Pictures do look bad, however I can't really think of anything on the right side of the car that could cause this. The only thing that has high voltage in the front corner there is the AC compressor. Don't know, but I am not going to worry about it.

My thought is what someone suggested on the other forum and that is vandalism.

 

Those photos should be flagged for inappropriate content.

 

Married to the Mob???

 

Mob? You mean the oil companies.

 

maybe it spontanously exploded
maybe a defect
maybe someone vandalizied it
maybe someone was trying to steal fuel by drilling into the fuel tank
maybe a lightening strike

lots of possibilities
i hope we get some facts, and not just have the 'it spontanously exploded' post out there for all eternity

 

The gasoline engine is on the right side. Gasoline can be explosive.

 

Slacker.

Twenty seven years in middle school. I drink your milkshake!

 

Hi All,

At first glance it looks like the explosion was centered in front of the pasenger side wheel, inside the fender. Somebody posted a picture of a compartment attached to the intake before the filter in this area. If that compartment became full of hydrocarbon fuel, it could make an explosive mixture. But what would set it off ?

Due to the externally accessible area where the explosion occured, I would also investigate external sources of the explosion. Say, an M80 or quarter stick of dynamite.

 

For some eye-measurements for you folks.

:hail:

I don't know how you do it. High school students are quite manageable from my perspective. I could never deal with elementary. Middle school? Forget it. <:0)

 

i'm the owner of the prius that is being discussed. someone on the clarkhoward.com site where i originally posted recommended i come and post what happened here as prius owners might have some good suggestions or insight. i am really just trying to find out if anyone has ever heard of this happening to another prius, since i can't find anything online.

i have no idea what happened and haven't ruled vandalism out - i met with arson investigators this morning. guess the main thing is that i want to find out what did in fact happen - whether it was a mechanical problem or vandalism - as the whole thing has me pretty shaken up. it's a pretty overwhelming feeling to wake up in the morning to find your car looking like that.

 

Wouldn't there be traces of explosives if it WERE vandalism? Have you heard anything like that in any reports?

Hopefully an attempt to rule out the vandalism first would bring at least some peace of mind to you, zooey... because I would say that IF IT WERE AN INTENDED VANDALISM, they haven't succeeded. Hopefully it weren't. *fingers crossed*

 

I'm sorry, you mean this just happened in the middle of the night? The car wasn't being drive, wasn't even on?

Edit: Apology, I should have read the links first. Spontaneous explosion.

Am I looking at the pictures right, and the hood more or less melted?

 

Hi zooey, and welcome, although under very unpleasant circumstances. What makes you say it exploded, rather than caught fire? Was there a boom? What exactly happened?

 

it happened friday at 7 a.m. i hadn't driven the car since 9:30 p.m. the night before, so the engine was completely cold.

i heard an explosion/loud bang and shortly after sirens. i went outside to see what was going on and saw it was my car.