Although they are not that common in the grand scheme of things and have decreased by 60 percent since 1980, vehicle fires are still a very real possibility. Fire was a factor in motor vehicle incidents that killed more than 560 people in 2018, the most recent year for which the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has statistics available. And with the average age of vehicles on the road increasing each year, the NFPA notes that vehicle fires from mechanical and electrical malfunctions become a greater risk.
The truth is that, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, vehicle fires are common enough in this country to warrant serious consideration by motorists. There were an estimated 171,500 on-highway vehicle fires in the US each year from 2014 to 2016, the latest year for which data is available. The vast majority, more than 142,000, were passenger vehicle fires, according to FEMA. That’s an average of just under 400 fires a day.
Counting all road vehicle fires, there were an average of 345 deaths, 1,300 injuries and about $1.1 billion in damages each year from 2014 to 2016, according to FEMA. And data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) show that collisions were a contributing factor in only 5% of road vehicle fires, although they were responsible for 60% of fatalities in these fires Mechanical failure or malfunction was cited in 45% of vehicle fires between 2014 and 2016, and electrical issues played a role in more than 1 in 5 fires.
