Originally posted by: eleison
please tell me which of the following statements are incorrect/moronic:
1) a turning/working motor in a crash will increase the probability of a fire.
2) before an accident even happens, if a person steps on a break with the car in gear (obviouisly this car is a manual), there is a better chance the motor will die/stall before impact or before flipping over when compared it to an automatic.
3) even after a point of impact, an automatic car's motor has a higher chance of turning then a manual especial if it's wheels are on the ground and not moving.
4) a car which has its motor not turning.. it is producing less electricity, hence the probability for a car fire is lower -- regardless if its standing still or in an accident, etc.
Pretty much all of them, actually.
1. As has been told to you time and again, but obviously you've chosen not to listen at all, the engine running or not doesn't increase the possibility of a fire. Ask yourself......what needs to be there to cause flame. Ignition source, fuel, and air. The only fuel is the gasoline primarily but I suppose the auto. trans. fluid could be in rare cases. Air, given as it's all around us. Ignition source.....a running engine is NOT an ignition source, contrary to your twisted logic. The ignition source you keep trying to envision is INSIDE the engine.....the spark plug.
So, what can cause flames on the outside of the engine. Hot metal, such as exhaust manifold, catalytic converter, or electrical sparks. All of these sources exist whether an engine is connected to an automatic or a manual. NO DIFFERENCE!
2. Why? I suppose if you're an inexperienced driver with a manual, all you might do is jam the brakes on and hold on for dear life. I've driven both autos and manuals during my almost 40 years of driving experience, and although I've only had a couple of accidents.....and those were decades ago.....when I hit the brakes in a manual shifted car, I also pushed in the clutch pedal with my left foot.
Why? Because I wasn't just clutching my steering wheel and locking my brakes up hoping I wouldn't hit something like a moron or an idiot.....I was actively trying my best to get out of the situation if at all possible.....which meant brakes on but short of locked, clutch in, shifting down and even trying to steer out of it. I didn't want the engine to die because that would cause a complete loss of control of the car....no power, no steering, no ability to move.
3. Maybe true.....if the impact is in the side or in the rear.....but head-on, and you lose your engine, auto or manual. Your engine cannot run with its grille and radiator jammed into the engine bay.
4. That's idiotic. The key is still on and even if it wasn't....the BATTERY is still charged and powering all those lovely little wires under the hood with 12V. The exact same amount of electricity is present under the hood of a running car and a non-running car.....12V. True, the alternator is not turning on a non-running car, but that's not the major source of the electricity under the hood of a car.....it's the battery. So, unless the battery is removed completely from the vehicle just before you run into something, the fact the engine is running or not has no bearing upon the electricity present under the hood.
The battery holds a very large charge in it......a lot of amperage behind those 12V. Hitting something with the front of the car, auto or manual, will most likely expose wiring that is connected to your battery.....immaterial of whether your key is on or not or the engine is running or not.
You do understand that the big red cable that runs off your battery goes to several places under your hood, right? The largest runs to your starter.....and it's typically quite exposed to being damaged in a frontal collision. Of course, if the battery breaks loose from its underhood mounting, which again is a very real probability in a frontal collision, just touching the positive terminal to any metal on the car completes a circuit and causes a spark.
So, the real ignition sources under the hood are from broken wiring and/or battery and from hot metal such as exhaust manifold, exhaust pipe and catalytic converter. The engine running has nothing to do with any of that......all the exhaust components are already hot so the engine doesn't have to run to have them stay hot. The electrical component of ignition for fire is from the battery, not your mistaken belief of the alternator having to run.
But, this is all silly.....in a frontal collision, the engine dies......manual or automatic. In a rear-end collision, it's immaterial if the engine is running or not....the fuel source is in the rear and any spark from the front cannot leap 15 feet through the air to the rear of your car from under your hood.
Like has been pointed out before........this is an idiotic belief you hold. To each his own....but please keep everyone informed here of when you get on the road so we can get off it. I don't want to be within 10 miles of you when you're driving if you cannot do anything but skid into another car instead of trying to maneuver out of an accident. If you cannot do that, you're no better than a 90 year old great-grandmother who points and hopes for the best.
until I see credible data that shows how many manuals vs. automatics that have been on fire... I will still speculate that its mostly automatics. For all the safety stuff installed on cars that are suppose to prevent fires from happening, they still happen. As unlikely that you say it happens, there have already been a case in this thread alone of an automatic that as you say, "magically" caught on fire (the avalon)...
Facebook
Twitter