Accidents : Vehicles catching Fire in India

[TeddyBear]

When i searched for Maruti Swift Fire incidents, i come across 4-5 such accidents for Swift alone and other Maruti models were not considered.

"Maruti Swift Zxi vehicle (Owned by my father) caught fire while parked and locked at our residence at Kothamangalam (near Kochi, Kerala) on 9th November 2008." The company says no manufacturing fault :-(
MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Review, Accessories, Price, India, MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT, Swift catches fire - MouthShut.com

A 50-year-old businessman was charred to death when the CNG-fuelled car he was driving caught fire on Thursday forenoon in East Punjabi Bagh here.
The victim, Vipul Verma, who ran a paint shop, had left home for his shop in his Maruti Swift car.
fire in CNG car | LPG/CNG Conversions | Car Forums - CarWale

Swift burns on JVLR, Powai, Mumbai

Swift burns on JVLR, Powai, Mumbai - YouTube

[mayankjha1806]

This is as bad it gets for Maruti, after all the labor problems in their plant which has got enough of bad publicity for the management now this incident.

It will be interesting to see how Maruti responds to this incident the usual "brush under the carpet" or a more mature response of taking care of the customer.

Guess this is the right time/incident when Maruti highly acclaimed Customer Care service gets truly tested.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by murillo

There is not much detail in the news report to conclude whether it is the manufacturer's fault or the customer's fault. All it says is that the engine got heated up and blew up in flames.

Maybe but how on earth can a car going up in flames because of engine overheating be a customer's fault?

Is this the first instance of fire in Dzire ever? Seems like a one-off occurrence unlike the multiple incidents of fires in Nano. Hence, no judgement can be passed off at this sole instance.

Sure it can. A car going up in flames certainly does not count as a regular occurence. Even if it is indeed a one-off, MSIL owe it to ALL its customers and especially the poor guy who watched his baby go down in flames a full explanation.

I am all for giving people a fair chance to explain etc. but let's not go overboard here.

[90BHP]

Just saw the video guys & it looks horrific ! Considering he was coming from aurangabad, is it possible this was a diesel, if so i would really want to know what went wrong in a 3 month old car. It can't be the user's fault, he must have had at least one service done by now & his oil/coolant levels must be alright, how can the car overheat. I hope we are able to get to the bottom of this situation, it will just help us help ourselves.

[honeybee]

It's been three months since it was bought. How do we know the owner hadn't fitted any extra accessories which could have led to a short circuit?

I recall reading in the newspaper a few years back about an incident where a bus was parked on dry grass near the roadside, and the grass caught fire after coming into contact with the hot exhaust of the bus. However, such instances are extremely rare, and we must not discount the possibility of the owner having modified the car's electrical system in some way.

[Wall-e]

Saw this news on ndtv.Looks like a one off case.I think nothing big to worry for suzuki,like honeybee pointed out might have something to do with the electrical system modification.

[rameshnanda]

When I did some search through google, I got more videos on the burning incidents.

Video002.3gp - YouTube

Tv9 - Maruthi car burned near Petrol Bunk - YouTube

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by r_devakumar

Read the news item in NDTV. Anyone has more details about this?
Mumbai: New car catches fire on expressway

The title of the link in the post is misleading. I mean the word New.
But voila it is a Dezire. Had it been a Swift with the word new, Maruti would have had certain cancellation of bookings.

[aaren]

I was shocked to see this in Indian Express today:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ai...t-out/850492/0

Excerpts:

A 27-year-old sales executive with Airtel was charred to death on Thursday morning when his Alto car burst into flames while he was travelling in North West Delhi. The family got to know of the incident through TV.

Arora, an MBA graduate, was travelling on the Azadpur-Mukundpur road in North-West Delhi’s Adarsh Nagar area when the incident happened at 11.45 am.

His charred body was found in a tilted position in the passenger seat of the burnt car, indicating that he struggled to make his way out of the burning vehicle in his final moments. Shattered pieces of glass of the rear windshield that cracked lay strewn around behind the burnt car.

Eyewitnesses said Arora’s white Alto car moved a few metres before exploding and burning completely. “When I saw the car from a distance, it had already caught fire and moved forward for about 60 metres before exploding. I thought I saw three people in the car but when I came closer, only one body was inside,” said Radhe, an eyewitness.

Police said a preliminary probe indicated that the mishap occurred due to the failure of the central locking system of the car. “Prima facie , it seems like an accident but we are not ruling out murder or foul play. There is a possibility that the central locking system got jammed,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West), Meenu Choudhary. The officer added that the fire and safety inspection report from the car-manufacturing company would shed more light on the cause of the fire. "

My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family on this accident.

I wish Indian Automobile companies become more open about acceptance of accidents that emante from engine than brushing them under the carpet. There have been many instances of Tata Nano, then there few Santro cars where the occupants died when the car(s) got stuck in flood and the engine was kept running with AC on. These kind of incidents are absolutely tragic and I believe that the car manufacturers have to accept it and do not only a thorough investigation, preferably through a third party and publish the results.

And, as a thought and not necessarily related to this tragic incident, I would believe that awareness about the negative aspects of tinkering with the electricals (that are getting more complex by the day) of the car should spread in a more effective way.

[.sushilkumar]

this is second fire accident involving our famed Maruti. Although i don't expect Our experts to comments here as it;s not tata / hyundai or FIAT. may the Poor Soul rest in peace and give the courage to his family to bear the loss . I hope maruti investigates these fire incidents and take corrective actions .

[MAS]

My heartfelt condolences to the family. It is sad that such things happen in India and is taken lightly by the manufacturers. With such incidents and such casual attitude towards it, i am worried if every car is a bomb waiting to explode.

[2cents]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

this is second fire accident involving our famed Maruti. Although i don't expect Our experts to comments here as it;s not tata / hyundai or FIAT. may the Poor Soul rest in peace and give the courage to his family to bear the loss . I hope maruti investigates these fire incidents and take corrective actions .

My heart felt condolances! 27 yrs, should be a very young family man!
I still don't see any reason to suspect Maruti, although this is second case in as many days, earlier one being a swift (or is it dzire?). Alto sells 20000 pieces a month. The likely culprit is the wiring for added accessories, in this case, could be the central locking. Let's wait for more details.

[Carb]

Deepest condolences for the victim and his family :(

I really hope these fire incidents will be taken care by the manufacturers.

First the Dzire, now the Alto!!!

Today, while searchin for a thread, came across one with Alto competing with Nano, where someone'd jovially pointed out tht at least thr wont be a necessity to call fire brigades in Altyo's case... Strangely ironic this...

[ramzsys]

Sad, lives lost just like that. In the case of a fire in a car with more and more plastics/fiber parts used in the guise of pedestrian norms/cost cutting one cannot even make a safe escape.

[libranof1987]

Condolences to the family.

Maruti seems to have developed quite a reputation of late; worker problems and now cars going up in flame.

Before we discuss who is at fault, I think it is important we know what triggered the fire. It could be a manufacturing defect or an after-market electrical fitment (the central-locking that is blamed in this case) that was not done properly and lead to a short-circuit.

It is tragic that a life was lost because of this; just hope the cause is found and corrective action taken.

MODS : Would it be appropriate to close this thread until more info is out. Otherwise, it'll be just speculation.