Prius's spontaneously catching on fire?

My car just hit 50,000 miles and no fires yet, in fact it's never even smoldered. Even after being rear ended it didn't explode and it still after all these miles and only oil changes and new tires, it drives like it was brand new.

 

I have just the opposite experience. From the moment I got my '04 my wife insisted it was 'smokin!'.

 

Hi
I just returned from a 10 day vacation and found my beloved prius that sat parked in my driveway had a serious interior fire that seemed to have started around the storage compartment between the two front seats. It burned itself out without alerting any neighbors, trashing the interior, but no exterior damage. Sheriff said there were no signs of arson. Very odd!?
Its a 2005 prius with 30K+ miles.

I intend to replace the car with another Prius - just curious
Anyone heard of anything like this before?
Also I'm new to chats - s this the right place to post this?

 

Welcome, DMSnow! This seems to be a good place to post your query, though a new thread would have been just as appropriate.

That is an interesting story... any idea what caused the fire? Do you have a block heater installed in your old Prius? Any electronics that might have been stored in the center console?

 

As I asked with the other incident: What did the fire department determine the cause to be?

 

Obvious questions:
What was stored in the console?
What was plugged into the accessory outlet?
What 3rd party or aftermarket electrical mods did it have?

 

Hey Now!



THAT's what I call a block heater . . . Betcha HIS windows aren't frosted over in the morning.

 

Dmsnow, please keep us informed on the possible causes. If you have looked at the history (which may be written up earlier in this thread), there have been at least two fires of the previous generation Prius (2001-2003) that started within the HV battery and burned the cars in very similar ways.

But I have never read of thme being completely understood. Previous work within the battery box could have created a potential for short circuit. The initial manufacture could have been at fault.

I have not read of any battery-initiated fires in the new generation of Prius. Its battery is of substantially different construction.

The apparent starting location of your fire does not immediately suggest a HV battery or wiring issue. But again, please tell us anything new you find out.

Hill that is a readlly horrible picture, thanks. I have never seen an aluminum hood melted before.

 

Dmsnow,

It is too bad that your first and only post to date on the forum is a negative against the Prius. As others have pointed out, such a story reported on a forum should contain some more details so it does not become just another unsubstantiated story.

The old who, what, where, when, and how are good for forums just as they are for newspapers.

 

reeks of trollage

 

64,000 miles and hasn't caught on fire yet! I think the only things on fire are the Prius sales records. Z E R O problems and NO dealer visits since new in Jan. 06. Even has original tires!

 

OTOH that photo looks creepily similar to photos of a current incident being discussed at
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/51168-2008-prius-blows-up.html

 

http://forum.autoworld.com.my/index.php?showtopic=99865&st=0&p=1726773

 

Hi there, Can you or any one one else on prius chat share what happened here? I only noticed the pics uploaded and no description. I'm in the process of uploading pics and info about my prius that spontaneously caught on fire a few days ago. Peace,

 

I would say your fears are mostly unfounded. Granted I have not owned my Prius very long, BUT being involved in the RC community for a long time I can assure you the batteries are safe. The NiMh batteries in the Prius can take quite a beating, and are pretty reliable.. Now next year when you have Prii running around with Lithium Ion batteries I would be concerned seeing the photos. I think you have more danger from someone tampering with wires and adding extra electronics causing a fire than anything else.

I wish you luck on your Prius buying venture, and please do your research on the car if you are buying used. A big thing you will want to look out for is sludging of the engine oil that seems to occur in Toyota cars. To the best of my knowledge the Prius is unaffected, but better to be safe than sorry.

 

Wait, gasoline is flammable? Who knew?

 

The battery is in the back. What you have here is a gasoline fire. Which ANY car can have.

 

My first post: PRIUS CATCHES FIRE

I wanted to share this to see if anyone knows of this ever happening with anyone else and also as a warning to others.

My wife and I both owned 2008 prius cars. We were very much fans of toyota tech and advocates of the prius vehicles. My prius is actually my second one and in total we have owned three Prius'. Until this incident, we didn't really have any complaints - except for the HID headlight issue in my car.

On September 28th 1:00 am I woke up to our car alarm sounding off. When I checked on the cars, my wife's prius was on fire. When I first noticed the fire, the flames where coming out of the inside of the hood area and then later penetrated through the car's hood. Luckily we have a nocturnal neighbor who called the fire dept. before I did. They said they noticed the fire before the alarm went off and they called the FD right away. Sadly, it took them about 25m to get there when our local fire dept is only 2 blocks away.

My wife's Prius was completely destroyed/totaled in the fire.

The fire department ruled out any vandalism/ criminal activity associated with the fire starting and came to the conclusion that is started in the carburetor area in the front right area of the car under the hood. We called Toyota and of course they haven’t heard of this ever happening before. I found other simulir incidents online and through prius that also invovled 2008 Prius cars. I did find that some are thought to be vandalized but until I read a confirmation from the actual owners I will rule that out.

Our car insurance inspection also ruled out any vandalism and noted a probable internal failure. Currently our vehicle is sill under going an inspection by Toyota.

*I noticed a previous comment about the prius having nothing under the front right hood that could cause this. I contest that - there is the cooling fan system that turns on after the vehicle is completely turned off. I'm wondering if our fan never turn on, or if it shorted somehow.

I still own my prius, and to be honest, I still like my car very much. But I requested Toyota to do a thorough investigation of my vehicle as well to insure that this will not happen to my car. They managed to get our local dealer to inspect the car for free. It actually feels like new now.

My wife has moved on and after receiving our auto insurance funds, my wife made the switch to Honda.

-

I will post images of the incident as soon as I figure out how to do so. I'm also hoping to upload my video to youtube soon. maybe I can post a link.

-

I promise to return and report on Toyota's findings. Peace,

 

Please keep us updated. It will be very interesting to learn what Toyota finds.

As to the warning: is there any car that can't burn? Does anyone buy a Prius thinking that it cannot burn?

 

I distinctly remember a year or 2 ago Ford pickup trucks and SUV's were catching on fire due to some defect in their cruise control systems. Have seen 1 or 2 incidents on here of Prii catching on fire, but nothing I would consider abnormal. Seen a number of other cars on fire on the side of the highway throughout my time. Now if we past probably 10 to 20 Prii bursting into flames then there would be a problem..