Prius's spontaneously catching on fire?

My suggestion would be to peruse the PC site and most problems are listed here by owner questions.
My Prius only has 400 miles on it so far so I'm not a good judge as to long term problems BUT, I have not heard or seen anything related to Prius "spontaneous Combustion" problems.
Possibly an irate salesman from another company started the fire mentioned in the email.:target:

 

Pure hogwash. If your friend can direct you to a source which describes the cause of that fire we'd love to know of it. And most of the shutdowns that we know of occured because the driver ignored the flashing light on the fuel gauge and ran out of gas.

Having said that, a Prius is a complicated car. Even more than for other cars it's a good idea to pay a certified Prius technician (almost all of them are at dealers) to thoroughly check it over before you buy it. Also search the title to be certain that it is not a salvage.

 

Another urban legend. While he's telling stories, ask him about the station wagon with the JATO bottles.

Tom

 

Prii can and have caught on fire. Any car can if the right parts are exposed to a combustion source. If someone torched the car in question, the story is plausible. That has happened. I will assume, however, that your friend is suggesting spontaneous Prius combustion, or that it otherwise is at higher risk of fire because of its design.

To save the OP and others a little time, there was another thread about this last year. The thread was started by someone investigating a fire in a garage with a Prius. Unfortunately, he never returned to provide more detail. One of the respondents did a Google search and turned up one possible spontaneous combustion. Unfortunately, the link in that post is now obsolete. Meanwhile, another post links to pics of a burned-out Prius, but that was an arson case. Maybe that's the case your friend is familiar with.

Bottom line: If he, again, is suggesting spontaneous combustion, I agree with the others: urban legend. And I agree with Richard: Press him to disclose a legitimate source with firsthand details, if he can. I bet he can't.

 

quote from owner garage ( post 33 from trhead link above )
The Fire Marshall ruled it as arson; same for the garage down the block.

 

That wasn't the original poster. Post 33 was providing more information on post 31 -- a different incident and person. The OP made his post and never offered any follow-up information.

 

As Homer Simpson said :Grade A bull plop.

 

Spontaneous combustion? Did you also know that they will electrocute you if you have an accident? I just read it was reported on TV.

Have you heard that UFOs are really craft from ancient Earth civilizations that moved underground and under the ocean? Oh, and I really am a Ford salesman, but use my time off to post on Prius forums.

These are all facts! Well, maybe I am not really a Ford salesman, but I am sure the rest are true! I read those things and saw them on TV!

PS: It just occurred to me that those cars catching on fire could be the Aliens phasering the Prius. After all, we know the Prius was built using stolen Alien technology from the Roswell crash!

Oh, and :welcome: to a great forum filled with great people with great knowledge to share. I didn't hear that on TV, but personal experience has proven it to be true.

 

The aliens aren't phasering the Prius, they are doing anal probes. Once that probe hits the HV wiring it's Poof, spontaneous combustion.

Tom

 

Spontaneous combustion?

Right.

And you can't drive in the rain or you'll be electrocuted.

ROFLOL!

 

Only American Gas Guzzling vehicles catch fire.

 

The Prius will spontaneously catch on fire if you spill fuel all over it, light a match and throw at it.

Believe it or not, the same will happen if you do the same to a Camry hyrbid.

 

No worries. The Prius comes with a full 350,000 mile spontaneous combustion warranty (500,000 in California)!!!

 

Oh, and I think there is a hack available if you prefer your car to spontaneouly combust (can't be used with the NAV override hack though ).

 

As you can see, people are poking fun at the "spontaneous Combustion" theory, not you.
As I said earlier, cruise through the site and you will see what "generally" can go wrong and does on "occasion".
Prius has the highest marks for people that would buy another Prius at Consumer Reports (I believe it was 93%). Thats saying something :hail: for the quality of the Prius.
Personal choice for what you decide on getting is a great thing, use it.

 

Spontaneous combustion . That is what insurance is for :rofl:. I agree...just another urban legend.

 

The guy at Best Buy said that if I get in an accident the battery acid will burn all the way through my skin and there is no way of stopping it, short of cutting off the appendage.

 

Oh maaaaaannnn! I hate those anal probes!!

 

Can we get a button on the steering wheel to make it spontaneously combust? I am kinda lazy when it comes to turning my Prius into a fireball...