[Shreyas Agarwal]

Going along the highway, enjoying a relaxing drive cocooned inside your brand new car and suddenly you see somke emanating from the engine bay and your car in no time is on fire. Sounds horrifying right?

Something of a similar kind happened recently to two MG Hector owners who's cars with Internet Inside turned into smoke, fire and danger inside.

The first case was a diesel engine car reported in Bandra, Mumbai. Here is the video:

https://youtu.be/etoYYz5fIrA

The second case has recently been reported in Delhi at the LG House road. This one is a petrol DCT:

https://youtu.be/5-_OCvaLo98

https://youtu.be/lTE0NpOnmuw

The difference in the fuel types hints towards the fact that the fires are electrical in nature.

It is also highly unlikely that any accessory was installed since MG Hector comes equipped with almost all bells and whistles.

MG must answer as this is a pretty grave concern.

Also, one incident could be regarded as a one off but two incidents within a short span of time hint towards sonething else.

This also once again raises a question towards the complete absence of anti lemon laws in India.

Request to mods: Did not post in the vehicles catching fire thread since this case is a bit different and no major news outlet has covered it preventing MG from even analysing the fires. I made a tweet to MG Support India when the first incident took place but they did not care to answer. Here is the Link

[Mu009]

As we wait for competitor-centric conspiracy theories to emerge, MG's silence speaks volumes. The silence of paid media, while no surprise, speaks yet more - not in the least wrt where the company's efforts are actually focussed.

I anticipate this turning into both news and a hot thread here.
Hopefully TeamBHP will, as usual, succeed in bringing to light the important stuff to the wider masses (that paid media never does).

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by Shreyas Agarwal

The difference in the fuel types hints towards the fact that the fires are electrical in nature.

It is also highly unlikely that any accessory was installed since MG Hector comes equipped with almost all bells and whistles.

MG like any other company has stayed silent on the issue and has tried to stay out of media.

MG must answer as this is a pretty grave concern.

Also, one incident could be regarded as a one off but two incidents within a short span of time hint towards sonething else.

This also once again raises a question towards the complete absence of anti lemon laws in India.

I saw the video and was shocked to see how it was kind of throwing explosions! You've raised a very valid point regarding different fuel types involved in the Hectors catching fire. And I really hope that no one would have got accessories installed in an already tech loaded car. This points to a fault in either the electrical system of the car or the wiring is substandard. MG must come forward and do a thorough investigation as there are many incidents of fire or smoke from engine bay. The incidents' ratio compared to Hectors on road is more than other cars.

What equally shocked me was how the bus and motorcyclists and other vehicles just drove across a raging fire. That car could have had an explosion.

India seriously needs anti lemon laws as the gullible public is treated like Guinea pigs by many manufacturers.

[2000rpm]

I think MG's chinese car has had quite a few problems which the company has been able to manage well. Remember the case on the donkey pulled car? I hope it meets the same fate as the Nano unless the company decides to behave responsibly. Which I dont expect from a Chinese company!

[Vid6639]

This is indeed worrying for MG and they need to look into these issues. However I think we also need to stop with the Chinese bashing and treat them like any other car manufacturer in India.

The car is made in India with a very high localization % and using Indian vendors for parts just like other companies. Few bits are imported from China just like Mahindra and Tata and Skoda and Mercedes.

If you go and check in your own house and daily life there will be a lot of products you use that are essentially made in china but rebranded as Indian so let's give the "this is to be expected from chinese brand" a rest.

[GTO]

The Mods discussed this internally and decided this thread can stay independent (instead of being merged with the Hector Official Review or the 'vehicles catching fire' thread). Reason = 2 fires of a brand new launch that isn't even selling in mass-market volumes does raise our eyebrows. There could also be a case or two that isn't on YouTube yet.

[ottocycle]

This looks very scary. MG can't keep silent here. I think they must be doing internal investigations and by now might already be knowing the high level cause.

Also the fire in diesel version is looking like less violent than the one with petrol. Is it because of petrol being more inflammable or it's just a chance? I am just thinking from the survival point of view if something like this happens. How much time do people generally have to get out?

[Sunil2307]

Scary. After market accessories might not be the cluprit here, as the car comes with everything on board. A proper investigation is required. Wonder if MG did reach out to the owners.

Lots of questions, but dont know the answer yet.

[Reinhard]

I'm not sure but one of those silver Hectors seen on fire seem to have the Hybrid badge on the rear hatch RHS under the glass. Did anybody see it clearly? Or I'm mistaking it for the Internet Inside badge?

[nikhilthegunner]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

This is indeed worrying for MG and they need to look into these issues.

Originally Posted by GTO

2 fires of a brand new launch that isn't even selling in mass-market volumes does raise our eyebrows. There could also be a case or two that isn't on YouTube yet.

Could you guys perhaps shoot off a mail to MG asking for a statement? Assuming they'll provide one. It's all ok to be talking about it here but perhaps a word or two from MG themselves wouldn't go amiss.

[123.rishabh]

MG seems to be very busy showcasing the overly booked ZS EV, instead they should look into this matter and comment why are such blunders happening.

[racer_ash]

Am not from the FBI, CBI or the NTSB, but the below is based on my logic.

One of the videos shows fire dripping from below the bonnet. This, I think is consistent with some leak in a fuel line which is causing the fuel to come in contact with the hot engine components thereby catching fire and dripping below. Now, one may argue that this can happen only in case of Petrol as a fuel but since most of the modern Diesels employ extremely high pressure and therefore highly atomized fuel injection, it might well be the case that highly atomized Diesel fuel too might be able to catch fire easily (else we wouldn't see Trucks and Buses burning after high speed crashes).

Mods. Please feel free to delete my post if you think there is too much speculation or misinformation in this post.

[wheelguy]

Scary. What were the mass media doing, why were they so silent, if they were paid to be silent then that shows SAIC's ethics. Hope MG doesn't threaten the YouTubers to pull down the videos. I think MG is heavy heavy-handedly controlling the media, especially social media etc. Hope someone download the videos before they vanish from YouTube.

It is only Team-BHP which reported/published this, while the rest of the media were silent about it.

[ajaiD]

This is terrible but it could not be a design flaw since the same design is used in China among other places. Maybe lapses in localization has led to these unfortunate series of events. In any case questioning the origins of the car/company would not be correct to do at this point of time.

[Reinhard]

Curiously - what happens now for the unlucky customers? Does this get covered in warranty at all? Or its just a total loss case & they have to be content with payment from insurance? I don't see a point in repairing and continuing to use a piece with such flaming history.