NASS and FARS data were analysed to determine the crash environments that produced major fires. Case reviews were conducted for NASS cases with a major fire. Annually, there are about 400 fatalities in FARS with fire as the most harmful vehicle event. There are about 60 cases annually in NASS with a fire recorded. FARS years since 1978 and NASS years since 1997 were studied. NASS and FARS fire statistics for different crash modes with documented fires are presented. Also included are plots of deformation profiles for NASS vehicles with fires. These plots show damage profiles at the 10%, 25% and 50% frequency of occurrence levels. The frontal crash mode accounts for about half of the fires in FARS and NASS. Rollovers account for about 25% of the major fires in NASS and carry the highest risk of fatality in FARS fires. In NASS, the vast majority fires that occur in frontal and rollover crashes originate under the hood. Incapacitation and entrapment of occupants are important survival factors when under hood fires occur. The full text of this paper may be found at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv21/09-0214.pdf. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145407.
Abstract