Accidents : Vehicles catching Fire in India

[amtak]

Hi Epic,

VW entered the Indian car market with a bang; there was a time when I wanted to buy a POLO and didn't go for it due to family reasons (on the lookout for a 7 seater now). On the forum itself, we have got a couple of cases where the Vento or the Skoda cars have caught fire and a few souls have lost their lives; the mistake that I am referring to is not conducting a proper research from their side on why or how these cars caught fire; if they have nothing to hide, why don't they take the initiative? While I completely agree with you that it could be a one off case; however, no harm. I am pretty confident that once the car goes to VW A**, they would do something this time.

So many Nano's caught fire due to faulty starter motors/ shoddy jobs by roadside installers; still TATA went ahead and conducted a full fledged enquiry on the same.

I would certainly try and post the reason on how the car caught fire/any other reasons if I get to know the same.

[ghodlur]

One more goes up the flame. Should the car manufacturer QA/QC also be suspected rather than just the standard ICE wiring. Did VW come out with the reports about the Vento burning issue in Pune, I guess not.

If the car catches fire after it has been switched off, should the hand of miscreants be ruled out?

@Amtak - Can you post the pics you have please, will bring clarity to the issue?

[amtak]

Hi Ghodlur,

Although the pictures are not very clear, I shall post the pictures by EOD once I blur out the number of the cars in question.

[srishiva]

The Japanese and Koreans who engineer their electricals well are so much better than Germans who over-engineer metal parts. Do you need a safe, non-burning car or a car with heavy doors?

@amtak, do you have photos of the areas that caught fire, atleast we can see what did not burn and decide where it could not have started.

[anandpadhye]

This is bad.
I hate 2 things that I see around these days:
1. Unscientific mods like music system, xenons, big horns with no respect whatsoever to wiring diagrams, ratings, etc
2. The "India only" cars made by the global manufacturers are no way near the original global models in terms of quality, safety, technology...

[amtak]

Shrishiva,

Nope, I don't have the pictures of the engine bay. I wasn't allowed to go near that for safety reasons. However, when the cars were on fire we could see the fire coming in from the bonnet area, so it is confirmed to be the engine bay.

Btw, the POLO is the top of the line 1.2; so aftermarket music system can be safely ruled out.

[fuel_addict]

Sad incident and it involves VW again. Would be interested in knowing the cause of the fire but sadly, these details are seldom revealed. So we have to just play the guessing game again. VW should come clean and do some serious analysis on this. The Vento catching fire in Pune is still fresh in people's minds. And that was a top of the line HL variant too just like this one.

[Driving_Nomad]

Very disheartening to hear another VW car catch fire. Like others, I also feel that VW should dig deep into "what caused the fire" than giving reasons of "After-Market electricals".

Further, I believe the localization on VW cars (no matter how much percentage) should not affect the safety rating big time. They just cannot give safety less importance because they're selling in India. There are CMVR rules after all!!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by amtak

Btw, the POLO is the top of the line 1.2; so aftermarket music system can be safely ruled out.

Assuming he did not do any modifications to the speaker setup or an HU change or any kind of amp setups. The stock setup is a lot to desired for.

Considering he's a colleague in your office, we'd be more interested in getting the actual facts from him, unless he isn't approachable at all.

Although my post would look like I'm defending VW, but I'd rather get the facts out before I start suspecting my Vento to burst into fire everyday! And if there is a problem, let's make it as public as we can.

[SDP]

First it was the Vento that cought fire in Pune and claimed a life and now this.

Sad incident and it does shake the confidence that I had in the brand.

I think, VW should rise to the challenge to do a thorough job with the investigation.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by amtak

Shrishiva,

Btw, the POLO is the top of the line 1.2; so aftermarket music system can be safely ruled out.

Is that a petrol or diesel?

While at that, do BHPians here feel that a diesel car safer than a petrol one? Cos, petrol needs just a spark to ignite, while getting diesel to start burning is not that easy.

[dZired]

That surely is a sad news. I have always loved the polo due to its eye catching as well as soothing design but these incidents have destroyed my faith in VW. We have many cases of VW cars catching fire here on tbhp. Dont know why the guys at VW are not able to take any suitable action to avoid such incidents.

@amtak: Has your colleague contacted the VW guys after this incident? If yes, what was there response?

[amtak]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Considering he's a colleague in your office, we'd be more interested in getting the actual facts from him, unless he isn't approachable at all.

Although my post would look like I'm defending VW, but I'd rather get the facts out before I start suspecting my Vento to burst into fire everyday! And if there is a problem, let's make it as public as we can.

He's not my colleague; my building is a commercial complex and has plenty of corporates working here.

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Is that a petrol or diesel?

While at that, do BHPians here feel that a diesel car safer than a petrol one? Cos, petrol needs just a spark to ignite, while getting diesel to start burning is not that easy.

I sense it to be petrol as there is no TDI marking on the hatch door. Besides, it looks to be the first generation polo as there is no "VOLKSWAGEN" written on it.

Originally Posted by dZired

That surely is a sad news. I have always loved the polo due to its eye catching as well as soothing design but these incidents have destroyed my faith in VW. We have many cases of VW cars catching fire here on tbhp. Dont know why the guys at VW are not able to take any suitable action to avoid such incidents.

@amtak: Has your colleague contacted the VW guys after this incident? If yes, what was there response?

As mentioned above, this gentleman in question is not my colleague; he works for some other corporate. Will try and get any update from the security that promptly doused the fire. However, one thing that I noticed is that when they tried to open the door, it didnt open very easily; somewhere I had read that they have some sensors that opens the locks in case of fire or something?

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Is that a petrol or diesel?

While at that, do BHPians here feel that a diesel car safer than a petrol one? Cos, petrol needs just a spark to ignite, while getting diesel to start burning is not that easy.

Both petrol and diesel will ignite in case of spark, though in theory petrol is more flammable. The principal behind spark ignition and compression ignition engine is a bit different

[shashank.nk]

Its sad to see another VW go up in flames. Do post the pics and the cause of the fire.

If its a highline 1.2 petrol and on older model at that, i suspect shoddy aftermarket installations.