Autoignition Temperatures of Common Vehicle Fluids

Vehicle Environments

The autoignition temperature measurements important to fire investigators are those that best reflect the circumstances found in the vehicle operating environments. Because there are enormous variations in the environments, there are also wide variations in the potential ignition temperatures. The following table gives values for the various fluids under different conditions.

To construct this table, all sources were combined to establish the ranges. While concise in what it presents, this method also hides some inconsistencies between published test results. For example, some researchers reported that gasoline would not ignite up to 1200 degrees F., while others had ignition at 1100 degrees F. (The notation, “>1200,” indicates there was no ignition when the tests were stopped at 1200 degrees F.)

If you would like more information about fluid ignition measurements, sources, the test conditions and results, click here.