Minor Crash Causes Devastating Fire?

[ecowan]

Today as I was driving home on a dirt road in southern VT, going about 30 mph in my 2006 green toyota prius (I'm not totally sure of the options) a mosquito flew into my ear. I took my left hand off the wheel and swatted at the bug, and I suddenly smashed into a tree, flipping my car on it's left side. I hit the power button to turn the car off, and called 911. I told the operator I could smell smoke, but she was insistent that I remain in the car. I'm insanely lucky that someone happened to be walking by who told me he could also see smoke, and that I shouldn't listen to the operator. He helped me lift the passenger door (which would have been too heavy for me, a fairly small teenager, to lift on my own). Minutes later, my car was engulfed in flames. The entire car was incinerated and all that is left is a singed shell. My parents and many of the emergency responders we talked to thought that the battery had caught on fire from the minor impact (there wasn't a lot of damage when I first got out of the car, aside from broken glass on the driver's side and a crushed right front end, but it was definitely not totaled at that point). My question is has anyone heard of similar things happening, and basically why did my car burn from a relatively minor accident?

[V8Cobrakid]

... you flipped the car... there is nothing minor about that.

[icarus]

Documentation? Are we sure there were no trolls under the tree? No offense intended,, just wishing to be sure.

Icarus

[fuzzy1]

Did the airbags fire? Was the power still on after the car flipped? (The impact should have shut down the ignition and isolated the battery.) Did anyone smell gasoline, or see where the fire originated?

And have you really regained enough composure already to register to PC and post a non-troll item?

[JimboK]

Originally Posted by V8Cobrakid

... you flipped the car... there is nothing minor about that.

Agreed. And you "smashed into a tree." Assuming that's not hyperbole on your part, that too tells me it wasn't minor.

My guess is that with the car on its side it was leaking fuel somewhere. It's almost certain that something other than the battery was the source of ignition. An operating automobile has many hot components and as metal slides across concrete or asphalt it produces sparks.

The emergency responders are misinformed if they think the battery is a likely cause. I say that as an emergency responder of 36 years who is very familiar with and very confident in the safety features of the car.

Glad you're OK, regardless.

[donee]

Hi ecowan,

As with most cars, the fuel lines, filters and fittings to hook that altogether are on the right side of the car. Smash up the right side of the car, and tilt it on its side, and fuel will flow down onto the hot exhaust manifold. It does not take any imagination as to what will happen next. In any car.

Maybe next time you will be driving with both hands on the wheel.

[cairo94507]

PLEASE do not feed the TROLLS!

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by JimboK

The emergency responders are misinformed if they think the battery is a likely cause. I say that as an emergency responder of 36 years who is very familiar with and very confident in the safety features of the car.

Had a local fireman start in about how he would let a hybrid burn as he didn't want to risk electrocution. (He didn't know I had one.) I replied that while I didn't believe there was really a risk, it probably didn't matter as the car would most likely be totalled anyway if a fire started anywhere in it.

[hobbit]

I can't decide whether to call complete BS or just point people
at Toyota's emergency response guide, or both.
One post, breathless story, do the math.
.
_H*

[ecowan]

Originally Posted by V8Cobrakid

... you flipped the car... there is nothing minor about that.

What I meant by minor is that the accident occurred at low speeds (25-30 mph), I sustained no injuries (not even a single cut, there was no blood at all. I have a bruise about an inch wide on my ankle), and the body damage before the fire didn't total the vehicle.