Our 2008 Prius Dies in a Fire

I'm surprised that the tires aren't more burned up... maybe that's why the others you looked up looked worse... once the tires catch fire they burn long and smokey. It looks like what burned up more on this one is the rear bumper cover which looks completely consumed. Maybe some ignited matress got up under it before you got stopped. That may then have ignited the rubber gaskets around the back door to get inside the car.

Not surprised that the tank didn't blow since there's no air in there until it starts to leak and then it'll just burn at the leak not explode.
I was tempted to say this'll buff right out but I'll leave that for someone else.

Let us know if there's a weird story in the local press about it.

 

Sorry to hear, and I have no doubt a conventional car would have caught fire in a similar way due to the mattress snagging underneath

A leaking coolant hose can start a pretty spectacular fire under the hood, especially a semi truck. So can a ruptured power steering hose

If you had had MANY fire extinguishers on hand, perhaps you could have kept the flames down until the pros arrived. Otherwise a couple of extinguishers will only help occupants escape a burning car

 

Joekc,

I'm glad to hear that you and the Missus got out unscathed.

I'd bet that that the fire path to the interior was through the ventilation
exhaust openings behind rear wheel wells. The rectangular HV battery
vent exhaust is clearly visible in the third picture in the OP. It is
normally hidden behind the rear bumper cover.

There is a similar opening on the driver's side. It just vents the interior.

I would guess that the burning tires ignited the bumper cover then the
plastic door on the vent openings. The HV battery exhaust ductwork
immediately inside the vent is thin plastic and easily ignited. The tire
fire and burning mattress would be heating up the various bits of
plastic and carpeting which would out-gassing pre-ignition flammable
vapors needing only an open flame to ignite.

Poof!

At this point, the interior fire would pull fresh air through the exhaust
vents and possibly the supply vents under the windshield wipers that
are never really closed all the way, even with air conditioning on
recirc.

Once the tail light assemblies began to melt/distort/ignite, there
would be two additional large openings into the interior.

As to the gas tank, I would expect that the myriad of plastic pipes that
make up the fill pipe, etc, were melted/caught fire early on. At that point
heated gasoline vapors would be freely venting from the gas tank under
the car and burning violently. I think this would explain the fire ball effect
in the first picture.

External heating of the metal body structure would increasing the
out-gassing from plastic parts inside the car and intensify the burning inside
the car. If somewhere in this scenario one or more windows broke, that
would only make the interior fire more intense due increased oxygen supply.

At sometime it is probable that the spare tire -- small volume but 60 psi --
probably exploded, and may have b;pwn out the hatch glass. Lots of new
oxygen...

 

Glad to hear everyone was ok. Agreed with everyone else, the fire likely started by the cat' starting the mattress on fire. Grass fires can easily be started the same way by vehicles pulled over into tall grass (even pickup trucks in a field). As for how the fire got into the cabin and what could possibly burn underneath the car, there are a few things. One, the fire probably spread to the cabin either by what has been mentioned already, or by means of spreading through the various grommet holes in the body under the car. Every Toyota and any other car I have ever seen (though I have not looked underneath a 2008 Prius) has rubber and/or plastic grommets that plug holes in the body/floor pan. These grommets can be for various things, such as drain holes or access holes where a wire harness passed through. Additionally, not all fasteners/threaded holes contain boats (particularly if there are different seat configurations in a vehicle such as bench seat vs. buckets). Rubber/plastic grommets will easily burn through even if made from fire-resistant materials. There are also plenty of things under a car that will ignite, such as plastic channeling/retainers for electrical wiring, brake line retainers, electrical wire sheathing, rubber/plastic bushings, seals, paint, seam sealer (caulk), electrical tape, plastic electrical harness connectors/plugs, and more. Plenty of stuff to burn.... And once it gets hot enough to melt metal, then liquids start burning.

Again, glad everyone is safe, and also glad you didn't do a "Sikes" and cause additional (false) panic over Toyota and the Prius. We just bought our second Prius this weekend, so we are now a 2-Prius family (and a long-standing Toyota owner) and I also stand by Toyota.

 

Hey Joe it's Chris from Lenexa. After we spoke about my Prius (and your ex...Prius) yesterday I thought I would do a search for your thread and check it out. I can't believe how many people have responded to this thread!

 

Awww...that'll buff right out. The FIREWALL between the cockpit & engine compartment is designed to keep the fire from spreading.

Caddys used to have quite a bit of cockpit shielding. AFAIK the only survivor of an ignition accident was a Las Vegas businessman.

The moral of the story is to leave enough distance so one can avoid flying debris or stop.

 

you are now the proud owner of the crispy critter?

 

Wow! Glad everyone is ok. A mattress huh.. makes sense, the catalytic converter and exhaust pipes runs very hot. I do know however not to park in a grassy field or this same thing could happen. Sorry you lost a good prius, but you will get another one soon. Again Glad everyone is ok.

 

Wow... some pretty dramatic pics and story, glad everyone is ok. Same colour, but different year from mine. Never really gave it much though how much of a threat a wayward mattress could be!


... This reminds me of a guy I saw driving on the Hwy401 in Toronto just yesterday; he was driving an older (~2003?) Sienna with a double or queen mattress strapped down to the roof rack. Now, he did use decent straps with those locking latches (not sure what they were called), but the guy was driving in the fast lane and doing about 60MPH (yeah, I know, we'll discuss driving courtesy at another time). Keep in mind, the 401 through Toronto is the heaviest travelled road in North America, with 8 lanes in each direction... and this was at the beginning of the afternoon rush.

With each MPH he climbed, the mattress bowed higher and higher acting almost like a parachute, til the middle was about 3, maybe 4 feet in the air at about 60MPH! I was so sure if he went even a bit faster, he was going to rip that flimsy roof rack right off and ignite a trail of destruction as a result.

Of course, I watched this from my REAR VIEW mirror... I wasn't stickin' around behind him! Though there was a Windstar following him pretty closely - almost tailgating - most of the time. Insane.

Anyway, I kept my eye on him for a good 10 minutes until he exited, so I guess it was his lucky day...

Sorry for the slightly OT post, but thought I would share...

 

In my area of the world it is customary to see overloaded pickups which appear to contain all of a family's material possessions loaded within. Those of you who watched TV in the 60s and recall the Beverly Hillbillies and the overloaded truck pictured in the intro clip can relate to the scene - except that these trucks driving around southern AZ usually have Mexican license plates.

 

I once saw a half-ton Ford pickup traveling on I-80 in West Sacramento with two full size cows riding along in the back. The front tires were barely touching the pavement. :madgrin:

 

Did everyone moooooooooo-ve out of the way???

 

It's also possible the friction of dragging the mattress against the pavement at highway speeds could have been enough to ignite it, either from the fabric directly or the wires getting red hot and/or sparking.

Once you have something burning under your car, it's going to spread to the car itself.

 

This is just another example of the danger from quiet hybrids. If the Prius made more noise, the mattress could have gotten out of the way.

Tom

 

OMG

Are you saying that in addition to being a quad-amputee,
the mattress was also blind?

Was the mattress wearing headphones?
If not, it was probably deaf as well.

I demand a joint NTSB/NASA investigation.

 

:Cry:

I wish people would secure their loads properly. I've had stuff flying off pickups nearly hit my car too.