Special: Car fire due to mechanical faults

Hyderabad: Moving vehicles going up in flames has become a frequent incident in the city.

There were four such mishaps reported in the last four days and while no one was hurt, the vehicles were gutted completely.

Investigations by police and fire officials have revealed that the fires started in the vehicles due to “mechanical defects” and short circuits.

Automobile engineers and experts say that short circuits in vehicles usually happens when the electrical wiring system is tampered to fit extra accessories.

Mechanical defects like oil or fuel leakage, overheating of engine and high pressure at vulnerable parts can also cause fire.

Owners fix extra accessories like woofers, amplifiers, headlamps, fog lamps, alarms etc.

“First of all, the vehicle’s battery may not be able to afford such accessories since the design would be limited for the default accessories. This may cause tears in the electric wiring systems, which eventually leads to sparks. Malfunction of the wiring system may also heat up vulnerable parts causing sudden fires,” said K. Mahender, an automobile engineer, who works in a high-end car showroom at Sanathnagar.

Car owners also sometimes tamper with the original electric wiring system of their vehicles.

“In order to fix extra accessories, a private mechanic may cut the wire or make an extra connection to the battery. After cutting the wire, the mechanic may not use proper sockets to protect the joints and instead use insulation. In the long run, the wire joints may become danger spots causing repeated sparks,” said a service manager of a Chevrolet showroom in city.

Installation or replacement LPG gas kits, fitting of accessories like air filters, repairing of air conditioners etc. may also lead to malfunctions.

Experts, meanwhile, say that mechanical defects could be found in new vehicles too.

There have been instances of even new cars like Tata Nanos catching fire.

The company later ran a thorough investigation to find that the defect occurred at the time of manufacturing. Other cars too might have such defects, which may lead to fire mishaps.

In two instances of vehicles catching fire in the city, officials found that the sparks started due to extra accessories in the cars, while another car caught fire due to fuel leakage.

Generally, when moving vehicles catch fire, only police and fire officials conduct probes. Clues team or forensic experts are not called unless there is something suspicious.

“We are not called for such mishaps unless there is a huge causality, property loss and suspicion. Fire officials and police finish the investigation with their own resources,” a Clues team official said.

Next: Avoid high voltage fittings, say automobile engineers

Avoid high voltage fittings, say automobile engineers

Hyderabad: Customers can avoid fire mishaps in their vehicles by taking a few precautions.

Automobile engineers and vehicle service centre heads suggest that car owners should avoid fitting accessories that consume higher voltages.

However, if they wish to fit such accessories, they should make sure that the original electric system is not tampered with.

File photo of the car that erupted in flames at the Khairatabad crossroads on Tuesday.

Experts also suggest installing fire extinguishers. Getting the vehicles serviced and repaired from authorised centres can also help in avoiding such mishaps.

Dhruv Gupta, automobile engineer at Car Sonic at Begumpet said that extra accessories could be fitted in vehicles without any problems if the owners were particular about it.

“When the extra accessories are installed in cars, the mechanic should be extra careful. Instead of cutting and insulating the wiring system, proper sockets can be used. When repairing, the right tools also should be used so that the wiring system is not torn,” he said.

Vehicle mechanic Kamesh, meanwhile, warned that owners should be careful about overheating the engine.

“Any user can detect an engine’s heat from the meter in the vehicle. When overheated, most cars stop automatically. But some people restart the car even before taking the necessary steps to cool it down. The owner should either refill the coolant or call a mechanic for help before starting the car,” he said.

According to the experts, fire extinguishers for vehicles are widely available at reasonable prices in the market.

However, very few people buy them. “An average fire extinguisher for a car costs Rs 250. People prefer to buy air fresheners for higher prices and not extinguishers due to lack of awareness,” said Gupta.

Next: Claiming insurance difficult

Claiming insurance difficult

Hyderabad: Getting insurance claims passed for vehicles that catch fire while running is an uncertain affair.

Usually, the insurance company conducts an independent investigation along with the police investigation. The process may take three to six months to finish and the claim to be passed.

“The owner should immediately report to the police and the insurance company when an accident occurs. If the owner informs the insurance officials immediately, they conduct a spot survey and investigate, with which the process can be finished soon. The company asks for a FIR report and cause of the accident to develop their own investigation,” said Srikant Red-dy, an insurance agent from Uppal.

The uncertainty of insurance comes with the investigation result of the accident. “If the mishap is a result of a deliberate attempt of the owner to claim insurance, and it’s proven during investigation, the claim will be denied.

Insurance officials also check whose negligence caused the accident,” said another insurance official of a prominent company.

Most insurance companies deny claims if the cause of the fire was installation of extra acc-essories and if inflammable materials were kept in the vehicle.

“Usually, companies do not give money if the fire mishap happens due to extra accessories and the same is proven during investigation. If it happened due to mech-anical defects, the claim is granted,” said an insurance agent.