[skb1811]

This is terrible to hear..

I remember my Logan had front door locks that opened when you pulled the latch regardless of central locking status.. sad that quite a few cars today don't have that feature still

[abhishekjoshi84]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

The only time the manual override can also fail is due to a crashed/damaged door or due to fire melting the plastic panel of the doors damaging the manual override.

Damaged doors is also not very uncommon, especially in rollovers. There should always be a glass breaker in the car. I keep a glass breaker in glove box as well as small ceramic pieces from spark plugs wrapped in a cloth in seat pockets (accessible for rear passengers) in my car for this rare possible scenario.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

A very shocking & unfortunate incident in Kannur, Kerala. Two lives were lost including that of a pregnant lady. The passengers in the rear 3 adults & a child escaped. The husband & the pregnant lady were not able to get down due to locks getting jammed or unresponsive.

The vehicle is a Maruti car, looks like S-Cross, need confirmation. As per initial inference, a short circuit is the cause of fire.

The fire spread very fast. There are videos being circulated which shows there are less than 3 minutes for the front passengers to escape. it shows that there is something very easy to catch fire right at the front cabin. Inside the engine bay is not damaged.

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by windrider

First reports coming in is that the fire started somewhere near the stearing column/dashboard area. Probably short circuit from the wiring of additional accessories etc. Whats surprising is how fast the car was completely engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds.

Originally Posted by bejoy

The engine bay was clean so the fuel was not the cause of fire. Likely it was due to electrical overloading/short circuit.

From the initial police reports, the fuel tank and engine bay were intact - ruling out fuel leak as a possible cause. Fire was electrical in origin, most likely from a shoddy job done by the local accessory shops.

As mentioned, the rapid spread of the fire inside the cabin was definitely alarming. I'm thinking there might have been an inflammable substance somewhere on the dashboard - maybe a perfume bottle or a sanitizer bottle, which caught fire from the electrical source. Hoping to get some closure on the issue from forensic experts and Kerala MVD.

Praying for the departed souls and the little girl they left behind. Eye witnesses mentioned that the father who was driving opened the rear doors from inside and made sure the rest of the family escaped. Can't imagine the trauma the survivors had to go through.

[RedTerrano]

Horrible way to go.
I pray for their Sadgati.
Om Shanti

Originally Posted by pratyaksh

And the car is none other than Zero/One Star Rated Maruti S-Presso.

Shouldn't these cars be banned from the roads? Anyone know why it burnt like it did.

I don't see what the rating has to do with fire.
Paul Walker too succumbed to a similar accident. The car in question that time was a Porsche.

[GTO]

Very sorry to hear of this unfortunate incident & painful death. The video on YouTube is enough to bring tears to one's eyes.

I keep this (Kubotan: The $5 safety device that can break a car window & help you escape a fire) in the glovebox of my cars. Suggest you also buy it.

Agreed with members on keeping the GNCAP out of this. Although it does make me wonder = if Maruti doesn't care two hoots about safety in one highly visible area (GNCAP & crash tests), how many costs are cut by Maruti for safety in other less-visible areas (incorporating fire safety into the wiring & electrical architecture, engineering the doors to unlock easily in such situations etc.).

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Only on high end cars, e.g. Tesla, do we see just a button to open a door. And there have been a few accidents with those as well. Because there is no mechanical back up.
Jeroen

Model 3 has a mechanical lever to open the door. The windows may not roll down, and the way it's designed, one may have to push the door hard enough to break the windows. Tesla has frame less windows.

As GTO mentioned, we have a seat belt cutter -hammer combo in all our cars. Things we hope to never use, but are must haves.

[ruzbehxyz]

After this accident, many would think of keeping Fire extinguishers inside their cars. There is no harm in keeping a fire extinguisher in the car. However pls note:
1. If you have a car fire ESPECIALLY INSIDE THE CABIN, first thing is to EVACUATE the car immediately by ALL. All materials inside a car are extremely flammable and you won’t have enough time to extinguish the fire. Besides the smoke will be so much that even opening windows will not prevent you from gasping for breadth. In other places like offices, societies etc. where there is a huge fire, many people die of the smoke rather than the actual fire itself.
2. The extinguisher will be helpful if you have an engine fire or fire outside (rare) and you need to extinguish the fire from OUTSIDE.

Some other points:
1. Never add accessories from shady places and without fuses etc. The technician should be a renowned guy.
2. Check how much extra load the battery can take before adding external accessories.
3. Do not keep pressurised sanitisers, perfumes, deodorants etc. in the car.
4. Always keep a window glass breaker in your car. There are cheap ones available on Amazon. I have mounted mine permanently on the centre pillar right side.
5. If you don’t have a glass breaker, you can remove your headrest and use the points to break the glass.
6. If you plan to invest in a car extinguisher, then get an ABC type 1 kg. Extinguisher. If you are a tourer car with loads of stuff like camping gear, gas stove etc., then 2 numbers 1 kg. extinguishers should be carried.
7. If you have an extinguisher or planning to buy one, then every 6 months or so, you have to turn the extinguisher upside down a few times and shake it, to prevent the contents from settling down and getting compacted.
8. If you an EV car, you must definitely carry an extinguisher.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by pratyaksh

Terrible news coming in from Kerala. I just wanted to check which car would burn like this and leave the front occupants locked in! And the car is none other than Zero/One Star Rated Maruti S-Presso.

Shouldn't these cars be banned from the roads? Anyone know why it burnt like it did.

This is absolutely a very casual conclusion!

The door lock mechanism of any car is driven through cables and linkages. When you try to pull the door open lever from the inside, the cables move and the latch hooked to the door frame of the bodyshell releases.

Cars catching fire and being unable to open the doors is mostly due to the fact that even before the cables, the plastic attachments on which these cables are secured give away and melt due to extreme heat, thus completely disconnecting the link between the door opening lever (Inside or outside) and the door lock mechanism.

You can see from the below images to understand how during a fire these parts may start to melt resulting in situations where one is unable to open the doors, whether from inside or outside.

And this is the case with most of the cars and not just Maruti.





I have always had this emergency rescue tool in my car since more than a decade now. Glass breaker cum seat belt cutter.



Image courtesy: Boodmo

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

This is absolutely a very casual conclusion!

The door lock mechanism of any car is driven through cables and linkages. When you try to pull the door open lever from the inside, the cables move and the latch hooked to the door frame of the bodyshell releases.

Cars catching fire and being unable to open the doors is mostly due to the fact that even before the cables, the plastic attachments on which these cables are secured give away and melt due to extreme heat, thus completely disconnecting the link between the door opening lever (Inside or outside) and the door lock mechanism.

Thanks paragsachania for useful explanation !

Few queries:

1) If the door lock itself is in open position (probably because the driver disabled auto lock or speed sensing door lock), will there be still issue in opening the door even if the plastic parts you mentioned in your post melt away due to fire?

2) Can you give some link of the device you showed (window breaker). How does it cut through seat belts ?

3) If someone has aftermarket accessories installed and decides to remove it because of the potential risks, will just removing the accessory or disconnecting the main device (lets say dashcam or rear camera) will reduce chanes or the complete wiring has to be removed along with connections (Sorry for naive question, my electronics knowledge is very limited ), so as to reduce chances of short circuit/over load ?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by DCEite

1) If the door lock itself is in open position (probably because the driver disabled auto lock or speed sensing door lock), will there be still issue in opening the door even if the plastic parts you mentioned in your post melt away due to fire?

Yes, because what I explained above assumes that the auto lock is disabled. The lever + Cable + lock link is what helps you to open the door from inside while the flap + cable will help you to open the door from the outside.

2) Can you give some link of the device you showed (window breaker). How does it cut through seat belts ?

I had purchased this from dx.com way back when this site was popular before aliexpress and the likes took over the market. However, the same one is available on amazon.

The seat belt is cut using the small blade that you see at the bottom the hammer.

3) If someone has aftermarket accessories installed and decides to remove it because of the potential risks, will just removing the accessory or disconnecting the main device (lets say dashcam or rear camera) will reduce chanes or the complete wiring has to be removed along with connections (Sorry for naive question, my electronics knowledge is very limited ), so as to reduce chances of short circuit/over load ?

Technically, it is always better to disconnect any such accessory from the main power source and not just pull the device from the circuit. Even a badly executed wiring job can lead to short circuit (exposed wires) when the accessory itself is not present and removed.

[sreejithkk]

Originally Posted by pratyaksh

And the car is none other than Zero/One Star Rated Maruti S-Presso.

Shouldn't these cars be banned from the roads? Anyone know why it burnt like it did.

NDTV

This is really terrifying incident. However the crash safety rating applies to occupants protection during a crash. Fire incident here is totally unrelated and crash safety rating does not play a role here.

[nettooran]

Originally Posted by arjithin

The fire spread very fast. There are videos being circulated which shows there are less than 3 minutes for the front passengers to escape. it shows that there is something very easy to catch fire right at the front cabin. Inside the engine bay is not damaged.

Latest Report by Police and MVD says that there were 2 bottles of Petrol in the car. The fire also spread to the air purifier. and thats what caused a sudden spread of fire

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by nettooran

The fire also spread to the air purifier. and thats what caused a sudden spread of fire

Is the air purifier factory fitted or added later as an accessory ?
I'm not sure, if S-Presso offers an air purifier by default.

[deathwalkr]

Must have meant perfume I guess. Keeping Petrol in bottles?

What a way to go. Horrible to say the least.