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11-02-2008, 06:28 AM | #1 |
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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Dash destroyed in electrical fire.
First off, sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place.
I'm a new poster who's looking for some idea or advice on what happened to my own little 2006 Yaris. I figured the people here were the best to ask considering Toyota hasn't gotten back to me yet. Long story short... On Thursday when I returned to a car park somebody told me my car was on fire. When the fire department got there they said that it was an electrical fire, and that they couldn't pinpoint what started it. I KNOW that I left NOTHING in the car that could have done this, and I've NEVER installed anything in the car. All services have been done by Toyota. A friend suggested that a short circuit sparked, lit the synthetic carpet on fire which then set the dash alight. The windshield shattered and the entire car is smoke damaged. I have a pretty wicked tint job going on right now. If anyone here has seen this before, or heard of it before, or knows just exactly what Toyota will do considering it's still under warranty (and definitely a write off), I'd greatly appreciate their input. Pics below. Last edited by eTiMaGo; 11-02-2008 at 09:46 AM. Reason: Additional information |
11-02-2008, 06:38 AM | #2 |
Wow that sucks. That is the first one I have seen and the first electrical fire I have heard about in a Yaris (actually any toyota).
My suggestion is....... clean out your cigarette butts..... let the insurance company handle it and they will probably approach toyota about the warranty.....
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11-02-2008, 06:40 AM | #3 |
I can tell you that Toyota WILL NOT admit any fault or they would be responsible......
Did you EVER install any electrical items yourself?
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some people are little slinkies. . . . .they are really good for nothing. . . .but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. Come to the DARKSIDE..... We have candy
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11-02-2008, 06:42 AM | #4 |
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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The cigarette butts would never be blamed. They're all empty of any tobacco. I used to hold them out the window and twist them until the lit part fell out of the car.
I never installed anything in the car. From the sounds of it, Toyota already knows they're in deep. It got towed from the insurance company's assessment centre over to Toyota on Friday, and when we spoke to them we were told that after they saw it, they were instructed to lock it up, put it somewhere, and call in a bunch of engineers. |
11-02-2008, 06:49 AM | #5 |
aka Jack Wolfskin
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Whow, that looks very bad
I hope for you that this can be made. |
11-02-2008, 06:54 AM | #6 |
Parallel Parking Pro
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I sure hope you've not fitted voltage stabilizers or anything of that sort. Otherwise you haven't got a leg to stand on.
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11-02-2008, 06:57 AM | #7 |
Well..... this is going to sound terrible but I hope it was a toyota "fault" and you should be replaced free-of-charge. In the insurance industry there is a term..... substitution of collateral where you should end up with a new car if your current one is financed.
I have seen fire destroy chevrolets and fords too in the US
__________________
some people are little slinkies. . . . .they are really good for nothing. . . .but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. Come to the DARKSIDE..... We have candy
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11-02-2008, 06:57 AM | #8 |
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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I haven't installed anything, added anything, changed anything, and all services were done by Toyota.
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11-02-2008, 06:58 AM | #9 |
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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No lit cigarette butts were possible. Hadn't had a single one in the car that day. Just got in, drove to where we were going, went away from the car for 20 minutes, came back, windows were blacked out, and sirens were in the distance =/
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11-03-2008, 10:34 AM | #10 | |
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Do they smoke? Could they have left something on the passenger side of the car? What brightness setting did you have the speedo on? It really is unusual for a Toyota to catch fire. I hope it all gets sorted out in your favor.
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11-03-2008, 03:38 PM | #11 | |||
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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Quote:
The brightness setting was on default. Quote:
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I think it had to have been something further up in the dash. Not the storage compartments, not down where the torch is. The heat had to have been extreme where the dash is melted away and the wires are all exposed. Look what it did to the windshield. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0102008074.jpg The plastic is so tough that if you look closely at the pictures in my first post, you can see that the rear view mirror actually touches the drivers side floor now. I don't think a torch could start the kind of fire or heat necessary to light the dash on fire. Then again, I admittedly, don't know that much about cars. From the extent of the damage and the time that it would have taken to get like that, I'm assuming that the problem actually started towards the end of my journey, probably before I turned the car off and got out. |
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11-02-2008, 07:13 AM | #12 |
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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It was a hot and sunny day, it always is, I live in Australia, lol. Nothing in the top compartment that was flammable. There were just some pieces of paper and my GPS unit.
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11-02-2008, 07:25 AM | #13 | |
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__________________
some people are little slinkies. . . . .they are really good for nothing. . . .but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. Come to the DARKSIDE..... We have candy
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11-02-2008, 07:29 AM | #14 |
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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They'll know I had a GPS anyway, considering it's fused into the top storage compartment, relatively untouched. You can see that the charger was plugged in to the car at the time of the fire. It was also plugged in to the GPS which was sitting in the top storage compartment. If it had been a fault in the GPS it would have melted the cable, and the top storage compartment would have been a lot more messed up than it is.
So... nobody thinks that the theory I presented is plausible? It started in the dash itself. Not in the storage compartments. Look at the two photos from different sides of the car, look at how far back it goes. |
11-02-2008, 07:42 AM | #15 | |
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__________________
some people are little slinkies. . . . .they are really good for nothing. . . .but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. Come to the DARKSIDE..... We have candy
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11-02-2008, 11:56 AM | #16 | |
ULTIMATE
Drives: 09 5dr LB, 2x 08 3dr LB Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: USA, CT
Posts: 13,460
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Quote:
I've done some analysis of this nature on some of our products that have had catastrophic failures in the field. If you weren't on the opposite side of the globe, I'd like to poke around under there. You would think that fuses would prevent this type of thing from happenning, but you'd be amazed at how little current it can take to set a small component ablaze. Also, When I installed my remote start/ keyless entry unit in my car, I found a nice nick in one of the wires, with exposed copper. There is a mile of wiring in a modern car and a whole lot of sharp sheet metal (and humans dragging one over the other). Having never seen a right-hand-drive Yaris in person, can someone describe what is different and the same under the dash. For example, is the fuse panel above the left front kick panel? |
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11-02-2008, 01:16 PM | #17 | ||
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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Quote:
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There is. It's lucky that the fire didn't get in there and get to the explosive chemicals in there. There are huge yellow stickers on the windows from the fire department saying not to reconnect the airbag and stay clear of the deployment area. If you guys can see a little silver thing that looks like it has buttons that's visible a bit out of the top storage compartment on the left hand side, that's the GPS. If it was due to the charger being faulty I would also assume that the cable going from it up to the GPS would be melted? I'm not sure. Thanks for all the brain storming and suggestions so far, I imagine that Toyota is going to take their time with this so I'm just trying to figure out myself what it was. Even after all this though, my next car is going to be another Yaris! |
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11-02-2008, 10:01 AM | #18 |
Drives: '08 5DR Silver Yaris HB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 13
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The theory is that a short circuit in the dash sparked, which lit the synthetic carpet that goes all the way from the floor up to underneath the dash. Then, in turn the carpet set the dash on fire.
Also, as I said previously. The fire department said that it was an electrical fire. |
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