My vehicle went up in flames

[Gonville]

The story about the i3 starting on fire posted originally is bogus. No record of any vehicle fire involving an i3 with any fire department. The pictures supplied aren’t even consistent.
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As for the story you just posted about an i3 vehicle fire, out of curiosity - where did this happen?

Reading the article- it alleges the vehicle was “towed away and disappeared” by BMW.

While it looks convincing, I’m curious which police and fire agency were involved, and the council.

Thanks for the article.

Google gives me a lot of i3 fires. I hadn’t searched before. A short YouTube from 5 years ago. I’ll have to archive some more pictures.

 

[weajd]

I just had a search for this. Apparently there is an article in the Times newspaper which I did read at the time. The story is pretty much in this thread on another blog site called Honest John . I did have a paywall share link but I think that now expires after 7 days.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/180450/bmw-i3---i3-catches

Very odd that in both these reported cases the car is towed away and never seen again.

I’m not sure if this is allowed but here is an extract from the article which answers the questions of was it plugged in and where was it. I think this is entirely genuine. Admin please remove if not allowed. View attachment 568

Reading the article, it appears to be a BEV but it is not clear what year. The left over wheel seems to be for an early model (2014-2016) but I can't be sure.

 

[airman2482]

Yes, the wheel appears to be an i3 wheel, and appears authentic, but… the allegation of BMW mischief, although seemingly sincere, as the article the i3 owner makes, is just that…. An allegation. Her claim of BMW “BMW were due to take the vehicle away …..” is what she claims. There’s always another side.



The Google search yielding some i3 fires is interesting… I don’t see “a lot of i3 fires”, I see a couple snd and the fire brigade fighting the i3 does NOT appear to be a battery fire.

Here’s a link to an article published by the NFPA (national fire protection Association) which is the “horses mouth” in fires… it’s a synopsis of different kinds of extinguishing agents on different classes of fires.

https://www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-articles/blogs/2023/08/01/fire-extinguisher-types
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Here’s a Tesla on fire on the road:



Here’s what can happen if lithium is exposed to water:



I think I’ll rely on my training as a “Level 2 firefighter”.

There may be new ways to fight metal fires that I’m not aware of since it’s been a few years since I was on the local fire department, but I remember from college chemistry what happens when water is applied to certain metals and I don’t think they have changed…

 

[Gonville]

Reading the article, it appears to be a BEV but it is not clear what year. The left over wheel seems to be for an early model (2014-2016) but I can't be sure.

I think an eyewitness account given by the owner of the car is more certainty than a social media comment. I don’t know the year as she didn’t report that but I was sure it was a REX. Not that makes any difference. The i3 caught fire and burned down a whole parade of shops. Fact. How and why that happened is the ‘alledged’ bit.

 

[Gonville]

Yes, the wheel appears to be an i3 wheel, and appears authentic, but… the allegation of BMW mischief, although seemingly sincere, as the article the i3 owner makes, is just that…. An allegation. Her claim of BMW “BMW were due to take the vehicle away …..” is what she claims. There’s always another side.

The i3 fire is genuine. The owner was an eye witness and the photos are contemporary supported by the newspapaer FOI requests for information. An i3 caught fire and burned down all the shops in Wembley. That part we know.

The second part of ‘alledged’ bad practice by BMW is as you say alledged. We don’t know who took the vehicle away - except the tow company was traced. What and where it went explains why BMW can’t be taken as liable for a ‘manufacturing fault’ as the owner ‘alledges’. Yes 2 sides to the story but without the remains hard for anyone to say except that it did burn. All agree that. Except the insurers can’t assess who is at fault. That’s the owners misfortune and why she has written the article.

 

[Gonville]

The Google search yielding some i3 fires is interesting… I don’t see “a lot of i3 fires”, I see a couple snd and the fire brigade fighting the i3 does NOT appear to be a battery fire.

I think I’ll rely on my training as a “Level 2 firefighter”.

There may be new ways to fight metal fires that I’m not aware of since it’s been a few years since I was on the local fire department, but I remember from college chemistry what happens when water is applied to certain metals and I don’t think they have changed…

I’m no expert on fire fighting or what caused the fires. Except the London one took 7 hours to extinguish. Could have been battery? Could have been REX, could have been EVSE fault (Rolec) could have been vandalism. I make no comment on any of that as unfortunately we don’t have the remains for BMW to analyse. Just reporting that it seems a similar situation to this ‘alledged’ fire where the remains also disappeared.

 

[Gonville]

I’m no expert on fire fighting or what caused the fires. Except the London one took 7 hours to extinguish. Could have been battery? Could have been REX, could have been EVSE fault (Rolec) could have been vandalism. I make no comment on any of that as unfortunately we don’t have the remains for BMW to analyse. Just reporting that it seems a similar situation to this ‘alledged’ fire where the remains also disappeared.

Just the Dutch and Germans are dunking cars in ? Liquid? Water?

 

[airman2482]

I think an eyewitness account given by the owner of the car is more certainty than a social media comment. I don’t know the year as she didn’t report that but I was sure it was a REX. Not that makes any difference. The i3 caught fire and burned down a whole parade of shops. Fact. How and why that happened is the ‘alledged’ bit.

That’s if the “eyewitness account” was accurate. She makes a claim. Claim not verified. The whole story seems real, but without the facts from an actual investigation, the story is hearsay. I’m not saying the fire didn’t occur, it’s the conclusions that are arrived or derived from someone’s opinion.

This is all I’m stating. Like I mentioned, I work PT in law enforcement. I don’t take things from newspapers as “face value”.

 

[airman2482]

Just the Dutch and Germans are dunking cars in ? Liquid? Water?

Interesting.. but the part left out by the “Tesla recommendation” is “if no appropriate extinguishing method is available” (ftom the circular Tesla distributes to public safety)

Science is science.!

 

[weajd]

I think an eyewitness account given by the owner of the car is more certainty than a social media comment. I don’t know the year as she didn’t report that but I was sure it was a REX. Not that makes any difference. The i3 caught fire and burned down a whole parade of shops. Fact. How and why that happened is the ‘alledged’ bit.

Why I think REX makes a difference is whether or not the REX engine starts the fire due to a gasoline leak and then it spreads from the back forwards. If a fire starts from the battery, my guess is that it would start from underneath the car/floor board and spread upwards and outwards from there given its location.

 

[airman2482]

The one thing I am concerned about is a fire in or around the REX. I never looked at the schematic, but hopefully there’s a one-way check valve in the gas line feeding the REX.

 

[Gonville]

That’s if the “eyewitness account” was accurate. She makes a claim. Claim not verified. The whole story seems real, but without the facts from an actual investigation, the story is hearsay. I’m not saying the fire didn’t occur, it’s the conclusions that are arrived or derived from someone’s opinion.

This is all I’m stating. Like I mentioned, I work PT in law enforcement. I don’t take things from newspapers as “face value”.

I think a degree of scepticism is warranted in Law Enforcement. Agree that she is ‘claiming’ that the i3 is at fault. However the car was burnt. Why I agree we don’t know. It definately burnt. What I find incredulous that pictures of the burning car and the devastation caused by photographic ‘evidence’ is so easily discarded as ‘fake news’. Of course a newspaper is to be questioned but dismissing that an i3 caught fire seems outlandish in the extreme. I can see we have become so enured to ‘fake news’ claims that even real news is discarded on face value. Sad that we have come so far yet achieved nothing.

I will seek the LFB actual investigation report. Probably similar to the Luton Airport car park fire.

 

[airman2482]

Since I started in Law Enforcement, I’ve become increasing skeptical of “news reports”. Not that they could be true, but I’ve found many media outlets embellish the situation or omit pertinent facts so the situation can be perceived as entirely different seemingly for the purpose of the reader or viewer to view more from the same outlet. The more salacious the better.

Many times a thorough “deeper look” forensic investigation is merited and uncovers the actual picture. And remember, if something sounds too good to be true, usually it’s not.

Again, I’m not stating that this woman’s story is accurate or not, but understandably her view could be subjective.

 

[ksnax]

Is that in front of your driver's seat? I've got a baby extinguisher in the trunk to ease the kids' worried after they witnessed serious fire incident. It's not NHRA approved in reach of the driver or anything, but it's there. I think I wouldn't stick around to fight a burning carbon fiber frame or lithium battery, class D equipment in hand or not!

Yes, it is mounted with 1/8" thick aluminum angle. But like the safety briefing at the hillclimbs I had installed it for, 'it's mostly there to put yourself out after you run away'.

 

[bmwi3fire]

with two children in the vehicle. We escaped the car at 4:40 with 7 minutes it was burnt beyond recognition. The vehicle had just been pickup from the dealership after nearly a year in service and over $10K in repairs. BMW ultimately took zero responsibility for the incident because the car was too damaged and posed a safety risk to the engineer who was to inspect it. The vehicle was actually lost en route, as it apparently caught on fire after being loaded on the tow truck. I was told by BMW to lawyer up if I wanted to explore compensation, but I was offered $4k toward another BMW. Please help! View attachment 457

we are in the bmw i3 fire struggle boat.

please feel free to email me as much detail as possible, photos, etc. to [email protected]
my i3 had 7 recalls "closed", yet nobody ever called me to a recall. Under consumer legislation, I should have had the right to return the vehicle and get a refund. I would love to manage to get that outcome in a court ruling to help every other bmw i3 owner whose car endangered their family.

Of course I had insurance, but the issue is I had picked up the vehicle a day earlier from the dealership, they let me drive off the lot with two small children. The vehicle literally caught on fire while I driving without warning. Another motorist noticed the smoke. No indicators or warnings while I was driving. There was an explosion five minutes after exiting the vehicle. Everything was lost. BMW then said they had no responsibility in the matter because the vehicle could not be inspected because it was dangerous, but not too dangerous to continue to sell to others or to allow children to ride in.

very similar story here.

I think an eyewitness account given by the owner of the car is more certainty than a social media comment. I don’t know the year as she didn’t report that but I was sure it was a REX. Not that makes any difference. The i3 caught fire and burned down a whole parade of shops. Fact. How and why that happened is the ‘alledged’ bit.

agreed

with two children in the vehicle. We escaped the car at 4:40 with 7 minutes it was burnt beyond recognition. The vehicle had just been pickup from the dealership after nearly a year in service and over $10K in repairs. BMW ultimately took zero responsibility for the incident because the car was too damaged and posed a safety risk to the engineer who was to inspect it. The vehicle was actually lost en route, as it apparently caught on fire after being loaded on the tow truck. I was told by BMW to lawyer up if I wanted to explore compensation, but I was offered $4k toward another BMW. Please help! View attachment 457
Click to expand...

it looks a lot like my own bmw i3 rex

 

[Mondomensch]

we are in the bmw i3 fire struggle boat.

please feel free to email me as much detail as possible, photos, etc. to [email protected]
my i3 had 7 recalls "closed", yet nobody ever called me to a recall. Under consumer legislation, I should have had the right to return the vehicle and get a refund. I would love to manage to get that outcome in a court ruling to help every other bmw i3 owner whose car endangered their family.


very similar story here.


agreed


it looks a lot like my own bmw i3 rex

Given the questionable nature of the OP’s post on this thread, could you provide some details on what happened to you?

 

[bmwi3fire]

Given the questionable nature of the OP’s post on this thread, could you provide some details on what happened to you?

"questionable nature of the OP's post on this thread"? can you please expand on that?

 

[Mondomensch]

"questionable nature of the OP's post on this thread"? can you please expand on that?

Changing story, missing basic info, photos seemingly sourced from Twitter, etc.

 

[bmwi3fire]

with two children in the vehicle. We escaped the car at 4:40 with 7 minutes it was burnt beyond recognition. The vehicle had just been pickup from the dealership after nearly a year in service and over $10K in repairs. BMW ultimately took zero responsibility for the incident because the car was too damaged and posed a safety risk to the engineer who was to inspect it. The vehicle was actually lost en route, as it apparently caught on fire after being loaded on the tow truck. I was told by BMW to lawyer up if I wanted to explore compensation, but I was offered $4k toward another BMW. Please help! View attachment 457

The structure on the car is Carbon Fibre Reinforced PLASTIC.

Plastic is a fuel.

It makes perfect sense why it burnt completely within 7 minutes. Our was fully engulfed in flames in 2 minutes. Truly a mobile crematorium for any rear passengers. Reason why I am now inviting BMW i3 owners to join a class action against BMW.

If you would like to join, please write to [email protected] to enroll. There may be a fee of 25 euro payable to the Qualified Entity pursuant to EU Directive 2020/1828. But that's something for later and I do not handle any of that.

Best regards