Arguably, the manufacturers of automobiles have spent millions of dollars in ensuring that the modern vehicles are safe. As a matter of fact, some of the safety issues include cushioned bumpers, occupant classification, air bag crumble zones as well as steel reinforcement. Regardless of this safety issues, there are various reasons why today’s passenger’s vehicles are more difficult to extinguish. Issues of vehicle fires are becoming extremely challenging to investigate. Hence, it is evident that a vehicle has various heat and fuel packages that pose tremendous risk to vehicle on issues related to fires. These components include engines, chassis, and passenger component (Herrera, 2003).
Conversably, studies show that passenger’s road vehicles are responsible for approximately 60% 0f fire occurring in various transportation vehicles. The main reason why passenger vehicles fires are difficult to extinguish is because of how it is manufactured. Today’s passenger vehicles are increasingly manufactured using combustible plastics, which increases the dangers of fire (National Research Council, 1980). The front bumpers within the passenger vehicles can easily react or explode in case an extraction tool operation takes place. In addition, the fuels that are used by passenger vehicles may be explosive. In fact, it may contain LPG, CNG, or Hydrogen fueling systems in pressurized tanks. Hence, the pressurized tanks holding these gases may explode making it difficult to extinguish the fire in the passenger’s vehicles (Quintiere, 1998).
The modern passenger’s vehicles contain a lot of electrical sources in the doors, seats, floorboard, headliner and the dashboard. Therefore, in case of fire it is difficult to extinguish since the electrical sources speeds up fire in the vehicle. The seats in the passenger vehicles are made of cotton that is battled with dashboards and cloth upholstery, which may speed up fires in the vehicles making it difficult to put off the fire (Herrera, 2003).. This implies that the heat and fire transfer within a passenger’s vehicle is remarkably high. In general, perspective it is difficult to extinguish the fire in a passengers vehicle because of its make, and the alternative fuels that are used. Main focus in manufacturing of passenger vehicle is comfort of the passengers, instead of focusing on safety issues.
References
Quintiere, J. (1998). Principles of Fire Behavior. New York: Thompsons Learning
Herrera, F. (2003). Passengers Compartment Vehicle Fires: Incendiary or Undetermined.
California: Engineering & Fire Investigation.
National Research Council. (1980). Land Transportation Vehicles. Committee on Fire Safety
Aspects of Polymeric Material. London: National Academ.
