A vehicle fire is an undesired

conflagration A conflagration is a large fire in the built environment that spreads via structure to structure ignition due to radiant or convective heat, or ember transmission. Conflagrations often damage human life, animal life, health, and/or property. A c ...

(uncontrolled burning) involving a

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on railway track, rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such ...

. Also termed car fire, it is one of the most common causes of

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

-related

property damage Property damage (sometimes called damage to property) is the damage or destruction of real or tangible personal property, caused by negligence, willful destruction, or an act of nature. Destruction of property (sometimes called property de ...

Causes

It can be challenging to determine the cause of a vehicular fire. In 23 percent of the cases of highway vehicle fires reported during the 2014-6 period to the U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Incident Reporting System, no cause had been determined. As at July 2018, another 10 percent of these reported cases were still under investigation. In 38 percent of the cases, investigators concluded that the fire resulted from either careless behavior or accidental actions. The failure of powered equipment, such as an electrical motor or a fan, was considered causal in 21 percent of the cases. Fires caused by intentional actions, such as arson, accounted for 5 percent of the cases; but the report cautions that this may be an undercount. Arson, being a crime, is no longer being reported to the U.S. National Fire Administration but is instead reported to its Federal Bureau of Investigation. The report further cautions that, due "to the volume of fires, many automobile fires are not investigated for possible arson."

Accidental

A motor vehicle contains many types of

flammable A combustible material is a material that can burn (i.e., sustain a flame) in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort ...

materials, including liquids like gasoline and oil as well as solid combustibles such as hoses. Fuel leaks from ruptured

fuel line A fuel line is a hose or pipe used to transfer fuel from one point in a vehicle to another. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines a fuel line as "all hoses or tubing designed to contain liquid fuel or fuel vapor. This incl ...

s also can rapidly ignite, especially in petrol-fuelled cars where sparks are possible in the engine compartment. Fires with casualties have been caused by

ozone cracking Cracks can be formed in many different elastomers by ozone attack, and the characteristic form of attack of vulnerable rubbers is known as ozone cracking. The problem was formerly very common, especially in tires, but is now rarely seen in those ...

nitrile rubber Nitrile rubber, also known as nitrile butadiene rubber, NBR, Buna-N, and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber, is a synthetic rubber derived from acrylonitrile (ACN) and butadiene. Trade names include Perbunan, Nipol, Krynac and Europrene. This rubber is ...

fuel lines for example. Vehicles house multiple potential sources of ignition including electrical devices that may

short circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...

, hot exhaust systems, and modern car devices such as

air bag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate in milliseconds during a collision and then deflate afterwards. It consists of an airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. ...

detonators. It is often the case in accidental auto fires that the bulk of the fire is (at least initially) contained in the engine compartment of the vehicle. In most vehicles, the passenger compartment is protected from engine compartment fire by a

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...

. However, in case of arson, the fire does not always start in the interior or spread there. It is mandatory to carry an in-car fire extinguisher in some countries, such as Belgium, Bulgaria and Poland. From 2003 to 2007 in the United States, there were 280,000 car fires per year, which caused 480 deaths.

Arson

In 2017, a study in the UK found that accidental car fires were declining but deliberate car fires (

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

) are increasing. At that time, in the UK, there were approximately the same number of deliberate car fires as accidental car fires. Over the 2010-24 period, the rate of "suspected deliberate vehicle fires" had trebled in County Durham; but the overall rate of such incidents in the UK had halved. "A BBC investigation found that last year 023fire crews in the north-east of England were called an average of more than 20 times a week to vehicles being set alight." In France, widespread arson of cars is regularly committed by youths during

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

celebrations. This began during the 1990's in poorer areas of

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, but has since spread nation-wide. In Sweden, more than 100 cars were set on fire on August 14, 2018. "On average, there are four incidents a day in Sweden, and August is the month where we tend to have the most burning cars," said Manne Gerell, a criminologist affiliated with

Malm%C3%B6 University Malmö University () is a public university located in Malmö, Sweden. With more than 24,000 students and about 1,600 employees (academic and administrative), Malmö University is the ninth largest institute of learning in Sweden. It has exchan ...

Hazard assessment

In 2024, the fire hazard of modern vehicles was assessed in the context of parking garages and vehicle carriers. This hazard has been affected by changes in vehicle design, fuels, and the equipment used during charging or refueling the vehicle. In particular, changes in vehicle construction and in their power sources (a fuel tank and/or a battery) have affected the peak heat release rate, the duration of the fire, and the heat flux to nearby objects. The report also surveys ways in which the fire hazard can be mitigated by fire protection systems.

References

External links

*{{Commonscatinline, Vehicle fires Automotive safety Types of fire