Consecutive car fires, looking for experience in prevention

Over the weekend, many consecutive vehicle fires occurred while traveling, causing panic among many people. First were two passenger bus fires on the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway. On the same day, May 6 in Dong Nai, a truck suddenly burst into flames while traveling on Highway 51 through Dong Nai province. Fortunately, in all three vehicle fires mentioned above, there were no human casualties. There are many common causes of vehicle fires today that many drivers should be aware of to prevent them.

Installing additional electrical equipment outside the vehicle’s design is one of the main causes of vehicle fires. By design, these devices are beyond the vehicle’s control, leading to overloading the electrical system when used, which can easily cause a fire or explosion. It can also be due to the use of poor quality electrical wires or “careless” connections, leading to a high risk of fire.

The second cause of car fires is human factors. Many people have the habit of being "lazy" about car maintenance or not paying attention to warning lights, "regretting" a small amount of money and then suffering huge consequences, making their "beloved car" potentially at risk of fire and explosion. Damaged or rusted spare parts, etc., if not repaired and maintained promptly, will reduce the vehicle's performance, even turning the car into a "fat bait" for "fire".

For "old" cars that have to operate in harsh conditions continuously, this risk is even higher because many parts on the car have reached the "retirement" period, leading to the need to pay attention to regular maintenance of the car and machine parts.

With internal combustion engines, overheating the engine and operating continuously for a long time is also the reason why the car is susceptible to "fire". Although the engine cannot spontaneously combust, when the temperature is high, it meets the agent of liquid leaking from the engine compartment (especially fuel), just a small drop falling in the right place will lead to an immediate explosion. The note is given that drivers should take the car for maintenance, add coolant regularly and pay special attention to the gaskets on the fuel lines and technical fluids.

From the above causes, it can be seen that to avoid the car from "burning", drivers should maintain the car regularly if possible, be careful with the electrical system, fuel lines on the car and should learn some basic repair "tricks" to be able to fix small errors, helping the car run smoothly.