[antz.bin]

This VW Vento caught fire on near Roopali restaurant, FC Road, Pune this morning.



The owner was going to park his car and suddenly it burst in fire. First huge black smoke started coming out. In a minute, the car caught fire. Owner could not escape at first due to his seat belt. Roopali regular members broke the seat belt from its mount and got him outside. By that time, he was completely on fire. However, we could put that out in a minute. By that time, all his clothes were burnt out. Police and Fire-brigade responded extremely fast. They were on site within max 5 minutes. Hats off to them. - Vishwas Mokashi


EDIT By Support Team:
"Appending the text from post 101, as requested by antz.bin"

Originally Posted by antz.bin

First and foremost, I didn't rescue anyone, My friend did. The picture and text on post #1 have been picked up from his FB profile. I just called him up for more details.

Secondly, the door did not jam. only the seatbelt was jammed. In fact, when the 30-40 people from the restaurant reached the car burning across the road, the driver side window was already down and the driver himself opened the door. No glasses were broken.

3-4 people together pulled on the jammed seat belt and ripped it from its mount to free the driver. The picture in post #1 looks dark due to the smoke and not due to ambient light. It was 7.30 AM on a sunny morning.

Thirdly, the fire started from the engine bay, not the cabin. The fire had started BEFORE the car came to a complete halt(when it hit the Ford Fusion). Initially black smoke started gushing out from the engine bay. When the onlookers saw this they rushed to help and within 30 seconds the first rescuers had reached.

After pulling the driver out, fire on him was put out by these people using gunny sacks/ jackets / water from jugs from the restaurant. Clothes were completely burnt but the person could still walk on his own. He was put in a police van which reached immediately and was taken to hospital barely 1 km away.

Before the fire brigade people reached, there were 3 big sparky explosions from the car. Fire brigade people put out the fire within 3-4 minutes. End of story.

[Rahulkool]

^^ OMG that is really scary, any idea how the seat belt was stuck ? These cases should be properly investigated by the company on how the fire was started.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

This VW Vento caught fire on near Roopali restaurant, FC Road, Pune this morning.

Attachment 879569

The owner was going to park his car and suddenly it burst in fire. First huge black smoke started coming out. In a minute, the car caught fire. Owner could not escape at first due to his seat belt. Roopali regular members broke the seat belt from its mount and got him outside. By that time, he was completely on fire. However, we could put that out in a minute. By that time, all his clothes were burnt out. Police and Fire-brigade responded extremely fast. They were on site within max 5 minutes. Hats off to them. - Vishwas Mokashi

Just thinking aloud . If the drivers clothes catch fire ,shouldnt the fire have originated from the driver seat? A loose ciggi end falling on the driver seat could be one of the reasons .

If its a fire from the engine bay ,the driver should have time to escape !

I might be wrong as well

[moralfibre]

Picture of the same Vento taken by a friend and team-bhpian:



My guess is a faulty ICE install might have caused this. Not sure though.

[ajay_satpute]

A VENTO while in motion caught fire on FC Road in Pune. The car was completely charred to ashes in few minutes. Luckily the owner escaped and is admitted to a near by hospital. The owner could not remove the seat belts in time and had to be pulled out by breaking the window glass.

[Ardy]

That's pretty sad. Pretty sad state of the car. Hope the owner recovers soon.

Any clue on the cause of the fire?

[ajay_satpute]

Here's the article TOI
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defau...&ViewMode=HTML

[pugram]

Too sad. Glad the owner (driver) has been saved.

Isn't it high time car manufacturer's put in fire retardant upholstery in cars ?

[dot]

Indian express says that when the person started the car, it caught fire. And "company" has promised to look into the matter.

Pune, 31 January, 2012 igitalEdition

Hope the person recovers well and it is an one-off case. As I understand, there are no real flame retardant regulations when it comes to combustible materials used in a vehicle.

[ghodlur]

Thats sad. Glad that the owner escaped unhurt. Should be the short circuiting case I guess - article says the owner heard of a spark from the engine.

Why could not the owner release the seat belts, was it stuck? Also the article said that the doors got automatically locked out which should not have been the case in case of emergency. This is serious safety design flaw.

Also any news of the second car which was damaged due to the rear ending by the burning Vento?

[dot]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Why could not the owner release the seat belts, was it stuck?

It is possible that due to panic, the person was unable to unlock himself. Or the incident was so sudden that he became helpless.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by dot

It is possible that due to panic, the person was unable to unlock himself. Or the incident was so sudden that he became helpless.

I can understand the situation but the seat belts are snap fit isnt it? They should come off relatively very easily. I am just worried this does not send a wrong message to people who wear seat belts.

[anujmishra]

There is another Vento gutted due to fire at some mall parking. I read this news sometimes back somewhere. Not able to find source of news. Please post if you have read somewhere.

[DevilsCry]

Report of VW Vento catching fire
Article Window

Two shocking revelations-
1. Seat belt got jammed
2. Doors automatically locked themselves

Originally Posted by anujmishra

There is another Vento gutted due to fire at some mall parking. I read this news sometimes back somewhere. Not able to find source of news. Please post if you have read somewhere.

Do you mean this one? http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post2574100

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[ninjatalli]

Saw the same points in the article - but not sure I can believe a reporter to that extent.

Vento's doors can be unlocked from inside even when centrally locked - the reason given by the company was to allow the driver to save himself in such situations, and get out fast.

If the article is correct, then I wonder what went wrong in the electricals causing the door locks to stop responding. Guess it'll be better to wait for the official report to come out from the company, assuming they do put it up.