2022 Lexus RX450h With 2,000 Miles Catches Fire

[NemesisUK]

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/2022-lexus-rx450h-with-2000-miles-catches-fire-brand-says-it-is-investigating-190346.html

[royoftherovers]

13 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/2022-lexus-rx450h-with-2000-miles-catches-fire-brand-says-it-is-investigating-190346.html

Imagine that starting in the Hold underneath the Cockpit of a Passenger aircraft ?

[Spock66]

From the images looks like the fire is centred around the front driver / passenger area, not where the batteries are located, contrary to what the article states, that seems an unusual place for the fire to start due to an electrical / mechanical failure.

[cadman2k]

I came across this NX (breaking on eBay) This looks as though it has had a Battery fire unless it's something else. It would be interesting to know what the statistics are on hybrid Battery fires v general fires in vehicles caused by electrical faults.

[Barry14UK]

Maybe some sort of heat/smoke sensor could be incorporated along with a sounder. It might not save your car but if you were in it, it could give you early warning more time to get out of it with minimal injury.  The same could apply in the cargo/battery area of a plane (if not done already) Additionally, at least in this latter situation, hopefully dry powder could be released to help restrain any fire.

[Sybaris]

Insurance job maybe?  or perhaps someone tried to modify the batteries

[JamesIS220]

Seems amazingly calm given the situation. Will be interesting to find out the cause.

James

[Hillie]

1 hour ago, Barry14UK said:

Maybe some sort of heat/smoke sensor could be incorporated along with a sounder. It might not save your car but if you were in it, it could give you early warning more time to get out of it with minimal injury.  The same could apply in the cargo/battery area of a plane (if not done already) Additionally, at least in this latter situation, hopefully dry powder could be released to help restrain any fire.

Modern Plane cargo holds and electronics bays include multiple Fire, heat, smoke and CO sensors with redundancy and backups including limited fire supression capabilities.  There have been many air accidents due to these issues with the root cause being 'batteries'  Galaxy Note Battery issue comes to mind and also the Boeing 787 Lithium Battery saga.

I agree.  Some kind of 'Heat' or 'CO' cabin / cargo / boot sensors could be included that woud not be triggered by someone with a cigarette or vape or set off by exposure to extreme sunlight but would give an early(earlier) indication of a problem.  It all just comes down to COST. 

I am also surpised major EV manufacturers dont include some fire / heat detection inside the sealed Battery backs as part of the Battery management system for very early run-away Battery problems.   A fuse is one thing but once the run-away has started it is hard to stop.

May be I am over thinking this.....  Its the engineer in me.

[Hillie]

On 6/5/2022 at 10:38 AM, royoftherovers said:

Imagine that starting in the Hold underneath the Cockpit of a Passenger aircraft ?

It has happened....
 

Quote

 

https://www.dacbeachcroft.com/es/mx/articles/2022/february/caution-in-the-cargo-hold-the-updated-carriage-of-dangerous-goods-on-board-aircraft/

Early and dramatic examples include, in 2010, a cargo flight operated by UPS crashed after take-off from Dubai while carrying a large shipment of lithium batteries. This incident prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration to issue an advisory to operators on the potential dangers of carrying lithium batteries as cargo.  Similarly, in 2011, a cargo flight operated by Asiana Airlines reported a fire on the main flight deck soon after take-off from Incheon, Korea, before crashing into the sea.  Investigations concluded that two adjacent pallets on the main aircraft deck containing lithium batteries and flammable substances were the origin of the fire. 

More recently, on 27 October 2019, a fire warning went off in the flight deck of a Boeing 737 just before take-off at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. However, there were no signs of any fire in the passenger cabin or following an external inspection of the aircraft. After a cautionary disembarkation of the passengers, the aircraft baggage hold was opened revealing significant fire damage which was later linked to an overheated lithium battery in a passenger’s electric wheelchair.

The risk of heat, smoke, fire and explosion associated with mobile devices carried by passengers was perhaps most widely brought to public attention in 2016 when the then newly-released Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone was banned from passenger airline flights due to its increased potential for catching fire.  The Federal Aviation Administration (the FAA) in the United States and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (the AAIB) and CAA in the UK have reported hundreds of incidents involving these devices. 

 

 

[Bluemarlin]

On 9/5/2022 at 8:23 PM, Barry14UK said:

Maybe some sort of heat/smoke sensor could be incorporated along with a sounder. It might not save your car but if you were in it, it could give you early warning more time to get out of it with minimal injury.  The same could apply in the cargo/battery area of a plane (if not done already) Additionally, at least in this latter situation, hopefully dry powder could be released to help restrain any fire.

A smoke detector would be a good idea, and wouldn't be expensive. I don't know about planes, but there are certainly automatic dry powder fire extinguishers and systems available for the engine bay in boats, which is often where the batteries are stored too.