Fire location versus collision type

Each type of collision carries a different fire risk for each location and specific vehicle. Here is an example of such statistics from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database:

Crash Location No Fire (%) Fire (%)
Front 62 68
Left 11 8
Right 10 9
Rear 6 6

Vehicles involving fatality, classified by impact location ( FARS, 1996)

 

In another study relating the type of collision to the location of fire origin, for 63,446 vehicles in the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS CDS) from 1995 to 2004, the following data were presented:

Crash Location Fuel Tank (%) Engine Compartment (%) Other (%)
Frontal 1 93 6
Nearside 40 58 2
Farside 26 24 51
Rear 66 23 10
Rollover 26 57 17
Total 15 74 11
Crash mode by fire origin (NASS CDS 1995-2004, for 63,446 vehicles) [1]
These values were projected from a small number of events in many cells.


References

  1. Bahouth,G., “Post Crash Exterior Crush Patterns and Motor Vehicle Fire Occurrence, SAE 2006-01-0789, 2006.