The purpose of this paper is to discuss post-collision vehicle fires that are the result of enginecompartment fluids (ECF’s) being expelled onto the hot surfaces of the engine compartment. Thediscussion will also address the effectiveness of shielding/guarding of the hot surfaces of the enginecompartment. The occurrence of post-collision engine compartment fires caused by the expelling ofECF’s in crashes has been researched, investigated and tested for many years. One of the areas lackingsignificant safety research is the testing of the ECF’s on actual vehicles both shielded and un-shielded thatmay be potential surfaces for auto ignition of ECF’s. Research in the past has been conducted usinglaboratory tests on a heated cylindrical tube or an apparatus such as that used in ASTM E 659 todetermine the auto ignition of ECF’s. Although prior testing has been listed representing a plausible realworldscenario in which a combustible liquid may come in contact with a hot engine surface, no actualengine surfaces were used in the testing. The testing conducted for this paper was done on actual vehiclesor vehicle components at operating temperatures. The results of this testing of ECF’s spilled, dripped andsprayed onto the vehicle exhaust systems and the effectiveness of production and prototype heat shields inreducing or eliminating post-collision impact engine compartment fires will be listed. This paper willdiscuss the effectiveness of production and prototype shielding to reduce or eliminate the risk of noncollisionand post-collision engine compartment fires.
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