Thread: Ford Ranger and Mazda BT 50 utes catch fire in long grass.

Originally Posted by rammypluge

Oops.

Is that a gas bottle on the back floor? Hope the photographer was using a long lens!

Originally Posted by johntins

Is that a gas bottle on the back floor? Hope the photographer was using a long lens!

Nah it's paint on the rear door. The BT50's have (aptly named) 'suicide' doors.

Ford Rangers, Mazda BT-50s recalled as farmers report grass fires sparked by new vehicles - ABC Rural - ABC News

I have always been very aware that driving across long grass causes a fire risk.

Would this not be operator error?

Jonesfam

Originally Posted by jonesfam

.....

Would this not be operator error?

Jonesfam

Not necesarily.
While there's a risk in starting fires in long grass with any vehicle, those DPF filters get seriously hot when the regen cycle starts up.
If you've never experienced one, the heat isn't normal hot muffler heat(say 100°C type heat), it's oven/furnace like heat! more like a few hundred degrees.

I once used the DPF 'muffler' on our Isuzu truck to get some heat into a pair of sodden riggers gloves. I knew it was hot, you can feel it's radiant heat from a meter away .. but never the less, I carefully placed the sodden gloves on the muffler during a regen cycle.
Poof! Gloves blackened and melted the leather in about 10sec(or so).
Can't really remember how quick it took ... as my mad panic attack had me kicking the smoldering gloves off the muffler before they exploded and I lost all comprehension of normality in trying minimise an idiotic situation from becoming a disastrous idiotic situation!

So I wouldn't be blaming the farmer or his wife for the issue in that story.
It really is up to a manufacturer to make sure that a product is safe in any situation, and selling these vehicles to farmers, you'd reasonably expect that a farmer may traverse long grass at some point in their lives.
These vehicles are taken camping, it's not unreasonable to expect that the vehicle would be driven or parked on longish grass in those situations.
Now that I know just how dangerous those DPF filters are during the regen cycle, I have a much clearer respect for what they can become.
The manufacturer should have a very obvious warning label in the vehicle to alert people to the inevitable danger that they can cause.

I'm kind of anal retentive about cars so I always read the manual.
I can't be 100% sure it was in every manual I've read but it has certainly been in a couple of them.
Something to the effect "Warning: Exhaust regeneration filter (or what ever) generates very hot temperatures" & so on.
I know most people don't read car manuals & think it' just a car, but if it's in the manual (& I don't know if it is in Ford/Mazda manual) I would have thought they were covered?
I have limited knowledge of the law & immediate corrective action is the best business choice but I still say pretty common knowledge?

Jonesfam

A few years back, some of my co-workers were driving commodores onto paddocks and starting fires. There is a little bit of common sense involved.

Its not the first fire related recall for Ford vehicles. At least there engineering seems consistent with making their death trap vehicles burst into flames.... Kuga, Fiesta, now the Ranger, not to mention all the transmission issues with the focus.

What a completely **** brand, Thats got to be a red flag to keep family members and anyone else you care about from ever getting into a new Ford.

Regards Daz

Fire On Road Daily