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Comment by _yoqn | Hacker News Reader

How often do gas cars catch on fire randomly (and not under the hood but under the passenger compartment as with EVs) compared with spontaneous electric car fires?

This is reminiscent of the Galaxy Notes that were exploding in people's pockets some years ago.

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There are tons of ICE car fire recalls. My sister in law's car recently had a recall for the ABS system starting a fire. A neighbor of mine had their house burn down in the 90s from a car parked for several days in their garage from what would later be a recall. Ford had a massive recall of millions of cars because the steering column would catch fire.

I've owned multiple cars which have had some kind of recall which resulted in a fire risk. Zero of them have been EVs.

Sure, those aren't all starting in the passenger compartment, but a lot of these battery fires aren't always starting in the passenger compartment either.

Kia had a major recall fairly recently for this too. I think the fix was adding a single fuse but they recommended parking outside until then.

> a lot of these battery fires aren't always starting in the passenger compartment either

A lot of EVs have batteries under the car which I think was the point. Though I can't see it being a huge issue or I would've heard a lot of stories of people being cooked by now.

You realize a gas car contains a tank full of highly flammable and explosive liquid that it uses in small quantity to create small explosions thousands of time in a second?

Of course they catch fire. what's surprising is that they don't do it more, but that's the result of ~150 years of evolution.

I’ve had it happen once, in a 1988 Toyota pickup. The (OEM) radio wiring caught fire while driving at slow speed.

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