“Vehicle fires have become increasingly common lately. Just days after reports of a month-old Tata Nexon facelift catching fire, another incident occurred on the Delhi-Jaipur highway where a Jaguar F-Pace luxury SUV caught fire while driving. A video of the burning luxury SUV has now surfaced online.
Watch | Jaguar worth Rs 1 crore catches fire on Delhi-Jaipur highway near Manesarhttps://t.co/fj8vG3u3VE pic.twitter.com/zsZ4qFlhDl
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) November 28, 2023
The video was shared by The Indian Express on their X (formerly Twitter) profile. It shows a black Jaguar F-Pace SUV completely engulfed in flames. The vehicle was in motion when this happened. Fortunately, the driver managed to escape from the vehicle without any injuries. According to reports, the incident occurred near Manesar in Haryana.
The driver, a resident of Badshahpur, had gone to Manesar to visit family. While returning to Gurugram from Manesar, the Jaguar F-Pace SUV caught fire on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. The police reported that the luxury SUV caught fire at around 11:30 am on Tuesday this week. When the car caught fire, the driver stopped the car and jumped out to safety.
The SHO of the Manesar police station said, “The man was returning from his family’s house in Manesar, and while on his way back, the car, worth around Rs 1 crore, caught fire near IMT Manesar. The car was completely damaged.”
The fire department in Manesar was notified about the fire, but by the time they arrived, the fire had completely consumed the car. Initial reports suspected a short circuit as the cause of the fire. However, the police report states something different. It mentions that petrol had leaked from the car, causing the fire. The car caught fire around 11:30 am, and within 7 minutes, the fire brigade reached the spot. The fire was finally extinguished around 1 pm.
As mentioned earlier, this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered news reports like this. Earlier this year, the Kerala government appointed a committee to investigate the rising number of vehicle fires in the state. In the last three years, Kerala alone has reported 207 vehicle fires. The investigation revealed three possible reasons for these fires.
The first reason was vehicle modification. The committee found that many car buyers often opt for lower variants as they are more affordable than higher trims. After purchasing the lower variant, people often modify their cars with aftermarket accessories and equipment. These workshops often tamper with the original wiring to install aftermarket lights, causing short circuits and leading to fires due to low-quality wires.
Another reason identified by the commission was a practice in Kerala where individuals carried fuel in their cars. They would often fill petrol in bottles from regions with lower prices and transport it in their cars. As petrol is highly inflammable, even a small spark could ignite a fire.
The third reason for vehicle fires was a specific type of insect. This insect was found to attack the fuel lines of petrol cars, mostly due to the widespread use of ethanol-mixed petrol in the country. The insect is attracted to ethanol and bites the fuel line to access it, causing potential fire hazards in some cases. Returning to the Jaguar fire, there’s no clarity on whether a short circuit or fuel leak caused the fire. It’s also uncertain whether the owner had installed any low-quality aftermarket accessories in the car.
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