Passenger seat caught on fire
 

Last night out of the blue I saw smoke coming from underneath my passenger seat. Got out, pushed the seat forward and saw flames. I got my crap out and luckily I was floating the river that day so I was able to run down and get water to put it out. I want to believe a wire shorted out and caused the fire, but honestly I have no idea. Has there been other issues like this and what should I do? I just did a claim with my insurance, but I don't want to drive the car in fear of this happening again. Recall or warranty covered? Thanks.

Do you smoke?

Glad you were able to catch it before your car burned down. I think your on the right track with your insurance claim. I prob would take pictures too. Even going has far as going to the dealer . It might be something where they might have the rep come down and look at. It could have been way more serious.

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If it truly caught on fire out of the blue with no fault of my own there's no way I'd start with an insurance claim. I'd immediately take it in for service and let the dealer know what happened. This is a warranty issue as long as you are within coverage.

Back when I used to smoke I had a "similar" issue happen in a saturn of mine. It ended up being a bit of ash flew off a cigarette and landed under the seat causing a small fire. That was the last time I ever smoked in a car.

I do smoke, and I was actually smoking when it happen. But the first thing I looked at was my cig and the cherry was on there and in my hands haha. Just take it to any toyota/scion dealer and talk to someone then

[QUOTE
Back when I used to smoke I had a "similar" issue happen in a saturn of mine. It ended up being a bit of ash flew off a cigarette and landed under the seat causing a small fire. That was the last time I ever smoked in a car.[/QUOTE]

Who determined it was the ask that caused the fire?

Don't smoke in your car, dealer will figure it out

There was a recall a couple months back about Toyota heated seats... Catching fire.

I was the one who determined the ash was the cause of the fire when I pulled the seat back and saw a bit of the cherry under the seat. While I can't say with 100% certainty that you experienced the same scenario that I did, I'd say the likelihood that you did is much higher than your seat wiring spontaneously igniting.

Reference: Occam's Razor

I doubt the seat heater was ON .... since it's summertime....??

I'd wager the seat caught fire because of your cigarette .....:iono:


humfrz

I thought upholstery had to meet certain flamability requirements because of california?

I know I've read disclaimers on certain items that said something like they don't meet california retardant requirements or something like that.

Flammability requirements don't dictate being fire proof. The center of a cigarette cherry is over 1000 degrees, which is enough to light just about anything that is flammable on fire.

Take to dealer. If you're positive that your cigarette didn't cause the fire, they need to investigate because this could eventually become a recall if other cars start to have this problem.

Too late dealers look at the forums they are going to see this thread, gg

That's why I insist on my friends not smoking in or around my car. They get pissed but I don't want ashes floating around and potentially starting fire. It's a stupid and expensive habit anyway.

I think I will just be honest and tell them I do smoke, because I'm almost certain it wasn't from smoking. I'll update once everything has been settled. Thanks everyone.

So, I took her to the dealership and they have no clue what is going on. I'm suppose to be leaving from vaca this week and they said they would have to get a rep to come out and look at it.... what a waste of time.

Wait, you were smoking at the time, and you'd rather believe that the car spontaneously caught on fire, just because your cigarette happened to still have 'a' cherry attached? I think a hot piece of ash could have easily fallen several minutes earlier, blown under the seat and taken several minutes to get a small fire started.

At this point, any other theory is absurd.

lol

I had a lighter in my pants once, and my pocket caught on fire.
I took my pants back to the pants store and they said they had no idea what happened. To this very day I have NO idea how my pocket caught on fire :bonk:

Liar liar

Pants on fire

While I agree it seems the likelihood of the fire being from a cig, the fire was coming from inside the seat, not from the carpet on the bottom. A piece of the seat had fallen from the seat and that was the first piece I picked up and threw out of the car. If it was a cig then it would have been burning from the carpet up to the seat.

The rear seats are not heated, only the front.

Los Pantalones......................

Attachment 80051

It's like a Sauna up in here....................

Were you hitting NOS? We all know that would cause the floor board rivets to pop out and shoot sparks.

read the thread, he said his PASSENGER seat caught fire

Did the OP scream when he saw the flames?

Time to start vaping instead broski


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Where?

Passenger sensor maybe if it was coming from inside the seat like OP says?


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Maybe it's cuz I'm a smoker but I find it extremely hard to believe a cherry started a fire. Knowing someone with narcolepsy who still insists on smoking and has burned holes in pretty much everything without actually starting a fire I would have to agree wiring. Also, I could be wrong but I'm going off experience and not googling anything or doing any form of research, doesn't the federal FSC add a chemical that's supposed to prevent a cigarette from starting a fire in some way? I have had holes burned in leather and cloth car seats before, unfortunately, both by dropping a cigarette and just by having a cherry fall off, and have never caused an actual fire. I also find it hard to believe, if a cherry did fall off your cigarette, it would still be burning by the time it found it's way under the passenger seat. Now if you said your driver seat spontaneously combusted while smoking and driving we'd have another story......

smoking doesnt start fires? these people would disagree

http://www.nfpa.org/research/reports...king-materials

Did anyone say that smoking doesn't cause fires? Don't think so. Pretty sure it was just pointed out how unlikely it is for a cigarette cherry to start a fire under a passenger seat. Nobody ever said cigarettes dont start fires. I did mention how my mom burns everything but never causes fires. Btw your article talks about FSC reducing fires and talks about how fires due to cigarettes have been down 73% since 1980. Good read but irrelevant as you obviously didn't comprehend what I wrote.

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the way your post is worded, it comes off as "its impoosible to start a fire from smoking".

the article did state that fires from smoking have gone down 30% in the years but there are still fires from smoking.

edit: your mom is a very lucky woman, seriously

Not at all. You take it how you want it dude. You are making assumptions based off of something I said. Which I based off of first hand experience. The point I was getting at, which I stated, is that it is highly unlikely for a cigarette cherry from the drivers cigarette to start a fire under a passenger seat of a car. And no the article pointed out FSC accounted for 30% and the total % was 70 since 1980. Long story short, you misunderstood what I said and made some assumptions. It's OK though, we all do that sometimes.

Edit: thanks I know. You have no idea how scary it is sometimes. Also, not trying to be a ****. Just don't want to be misunderstood. I'm also very blunt at times :/

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i get it

im just trying to say while it may be unlikey, its still possible and its just as unlikey its something electrical (as long as no modding or finger fucking was done to the passenger seat)

I'll agree with that. I'm very confused as to how you were able to type finger fucking and this thing starred out d I c k

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To everyone referencing the Toyota recall regarding heated seats - yes there was such a recall but it was a compliance issue with the burning rate of the fabric (not that the heaters were likely to start a fire).

But that's irrelevant anyway because 1. The FRS wasn't covered in the recall and 2. The OP's car likely doesn't have seat heaters anyway (since his is white and based on his post history has a 2013 and therefore not a monogram).

I'd say smoking is likely the culprit. OP were your windows down at the time? I wonder if a piece of ash got down there and the wind slowly kindled a fire. Either way, take it to the dealership and have them look at it.

How much current does the seat airbag carry? Its the only thing i can think of that if it shorted could carry enough to cause a fire. Sensors if they shorted would do nothing. We don't have powered seats, I can see that having enough current to do the job, or heated seats obviously.

There's this guy you need to meet. His name's Occam and he has this Razor thing he wants to talk to you about..