Vehicle fires are dangerous even when occupants are fortunate to escape without injury. This is an important point that is often overlooked.

In a June 29, 2024 Twitter (X) post by Grenville OPP a photo of a burned out vehicle was shown along with the following comment:

The advice to “pull over if you’re feeling ill” in helpful but the greater importance of the incident is that a fire occurred after a vehicle struck a guardrail. The occurrence of a fire is much more important because of the danger posed to any occupant who might not be able to escape it. Furthermore, vehicles should not catch fire striking a guardrail unless there are some unusual circumstances. A fire in this instance would be very rare even 30 years ago and vehicle safety should be improving with the advance of time, not deteriorating.

The above photo does not indicate that there has been any massive deformation to the vehicle such that the commencement of a fire would be explained. And massive deformation should not occur from a simple impact of a guardrail where the deceleration of a vehicle is prolonged as a vehicle is dragged along a guardrail and its velocity is reduced over an extended time.

Gorski Consulting has been raising the red flag of danger for a number of years now as the number of vehicle fires seem to be increasing. Yet no one appears to be paying attention to this danger. We have stated a number of times previously that vehicle fires should not be inevitable nor should they be accepted as commonplace. All modern safety installations such as seatbelts, air bags, and various crashworthiness improvements become nullified when a vehicle catches fire because, even when an occupant survives a crash, they could become victim to the aftermath of a fire.