My wife was rear ended, while driving a 2021 Sienna hybrid, on the highway while traffic was slowing. She was spun around facing opposite direction in next lane. In less than a minute the back end of the van began smoking and caught fire. Thankfully she and my daughter got out right away, but the van was a total loss.
2021 Sienna fire
Ukblue
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914 Posts
How does a vaccum battery or laptop battery burn down a house.....? Stuff happens unfortunately.
If I was a betting person, it would be the gas tank or fuel line and not the battery, but that is why they do investigations.
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Now you are talking like the anti-laptop and anti-vacuum crowd
I believe Toyota hybrids have cooler exhaust than regular ICE cars, although this does not necessarily mean that the muffler and the catalyst box won't get hot enough to ignite gasoline vapors. I wouldn't discard the shorted battery theory. But, like you and others said, there should be an investigation to determine the cause.
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Nah, I love my laptop and robo vac. 🤣🤣. Risk vs reward.....I guess.Now you are talking like the anti-laptop and anti-vacuum crowd
Glad to hear your family is safe, please keep us posted.
Uh, yea, getting rear ended at a speed maybe had something to do with it? lol. Blaming the Sienna's tiny 12v battery as the cause? That's grasping and perpetuating anti-EV/battery nonsense. Are we to assume you think all fires are now battery caused? Couldn't the the gallons and gallons of highly flammable fuel have anything to do with it, could it?
Every gasoline powered car has a battery. Are we to assume you think that every car on the road is a death trap waiting to explode? No probably you only think EVs are, right?
That may be true for lithium Ion family of batteries WHEN they experience thermal runaway.
However, the Sienna Hybrid uses nickel metal hydride. Completely different and does not experience thermal runaway.
Moderators Comment: Let's say LESS LIKELY to experience a thermal runaway event due to the lower capacity, reduced packing density, placement in the vehicle, no lithium (a combustible metal).
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I am not sure how lithium vs. Ni-MH batteries even entered this conversation .... The Sienna has its traction battery under the 1st row. The destroyed van was FWD, so no rear motor + orange cables. The fire did start in the rear, and there was nothing in the rear that had to do with the traction battery - I would say, the case is quite simple: not guilty!
By contrast, the 12V lead acid battery was indeed in the back and relatively close to the gas tank, which makes it potentially culpable, if it had been damaged and/or shorted simultaneously with the hypothetical rupturing of the gas tank.
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242 Posts
Its highly likely this is ruptured gas tank or gas line and heat from exhaust could have caused the fire.
It entered discussion because someone stated that NiMH battery doesn’t have thermal runaway and only Li ion battery have thermal runaway. Both are totally wrong.
Ummm, you did. That's all you posted about until I pointed it out. No one was taking about the traction battery. Yes, all batteries are considered dangerous goods, so why only point out that about EV batteries only? Agenda much?
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681 Posts
you can both quit arguing here, we can see that the HV battery is not burned up, its under the driver/passenger seats, and the front half of the van looks rather unburned compared to the rear, and the fire started in the rear. Given that the majority of the fire was in the rear, I suspect a gas tank puncture, and then the vapors getting ignited by sparks from the collision. This can literally happen to every gasoline car on the road, and i would bet that the NHTSA is already investigating it, and even trying and replicate it to see if they can figure it out. If anyone has looked at where the tank is, its pretty packed in there, and would not take much deforming to put something sharp into it. it is a plastic tank, and it should deform instead of crack, but shit happens in a collision.
that said, the tiny battery in the back isn't actually all that energy dense, im pretty sure its a group35 AGM, and its like 400 CCA(I can look). I could convert this to watt or amp hours, but the point is, is that in a rear end impact, the battery is likely to crack and lose its electrolite before it can start a fire, and there should be an insulator/sheet attached to the top of the battery(like in mine) to prevent it from shorting out if it somehow gets bounced around in there. That said, im just glad everyone is okay and got out without major injuries, and will look for the NHTSAs investigation. this is so new that its not posted on their site at all.
that said, the tiny battery in the back isn't actually all that energy dense, im pretty sure its a group35 AGM, and its like 400 CCA(I can look). I could convert this to watt or amp hours, but the point is, is that in a rear end impact, the battery is likely to crack and lose its electrolite before it can start a fire, and there should be an insulator/sheet attached to the top of the battery(like in mine) to prevent it from shorting out if it somehow gets bounced around in there. That said, im just glad everyone is okay and got out without major injuries, and will look for the NHTSAs investigation. this is so new that its not posted on their site at all.
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Why doesn’t everyone do the sensible thing and wait for the report as to what cased the fire (by the experts) to come out.
Much more importantly
Glad to hear your family is safe.
Can’t blame you for not being in a rush to buy another with what has happened.
Much more importantly
Glad to hear your family is safe.
Can’t blame you for not being in a rush to buy another with what has happened.
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3 Posts
The Sienna Hybrid battery is 288 volts and can easily have caused this fire.
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7 Posts
Re: photo of fire damaged van, why does the bottom caption say "Car Wheel Tire Automotive Fire". Did fire originate due to a tire failure connected to the collision?
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1,963 Posts
I think this may be your-, or OP's browser trying to interpret the contents of the picture. Artificial Intelligence, you know
. If there are any Gen Y-ers or better on the forum, they can explain this more elegantly.
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Okay, that's probably it.I think this may be your-, or OP's browser trying to interpret the contents of the picture. Artificial Intelligence, you know
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