Recall 2008-2009 Fire Risk

[CANMAN 23]

This article was in the news today. Transport Canada is issuing a recall for 2008-2009 smart fortwo’s due to a risk of fires in the engine compartment.

canman

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/smart-vehicles-recall-engine-fire-1.4657669

[jwight 117]

Not really sure why it's limited to the 2008-2009 model years as no one can point to any changes in the insulation for later models.  Also doesn't address fires involving the SAM.....

[Wild! 118]

The one thing no one has mentioned about the insulation is that MICE is may likely cause of this, that is what happened in mine (not a fire) but the insulation being torn off, to get in the car it self . I had not cleaned my car out since winter small bits of food like chips under the seat. They can smell that. The other thing is the muffler on mine needed to be replaced because of the flex pipe causing the muffler tale pipe to go against the black plastic cover causing it to melt and smoke. Had that all replaced. Now that would likely cause a fire in my opinion. I wonder if these cars had such a problem and was not noticed in time. Just a thought.

[Huronlad 186]

2008s and 2009s that have the recall done will hopefully be fire free.  We will have to see if in a few years 2010+ cars start to burn up.

[RobCDI 18]

I just changed my friends 2008 451 oil. I noticed the engine insulation was sagging ALOT

[lebikerboy 96]

Another good reason to drive Electric...

[jwight 117]

17 minutes ago, lebikerboy said:

Another good reason to drive Electric...

 

Unless.....https://abcnews.go.com/US/ntsb-investigating-tesla-crash-fire-killed-florida-teens/story?id=55062449

[niteshooter 30]

I dunno, lithium ion batteries aren't exactly that safe either..... 

 

https://www.wired.com/2017/03/dont-blame-batteries-every-lithium-ion-explosion/

 

If you have an old iPhone 3 sitting in a drawer somewhere I'd suggest digging it out and checking to see if it has started to bloat. These batteries were notorious for puffing up and pushing out the screens and backs as they degenerated. Not sure about fire risk but if they bloated to the point that the outer shell breeched then you would have at minimum a rather ugly mess.

Edited May 27, 2018 by niteshooter