SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 I was just watching MSNBC when breaking news came across that a doctor had blown up upon starting his Lexus RX in Arkansas. Nobody has any idea whether it was foul play or something having to do with the car. I'd be surprised if it wasn't foul play, I can think of a mechanism that would cause a car to literally explode upon startup by accident... They must agree because the ATF and FBI are investigating...
dcfish Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 WOW !!! Just like a scene from an old mob movie, Keep us posted on this one. TIA
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 They're doing an update now, its an RX400h hybrid and the woman that they have on the line now doesn't think foul play would be involved, the guy was a family doctor... Wow...
BillyShaft Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Well, Lead/acid batteries can outgas H2 and O2 (it was a huge concern on the submarine, and we had ventillation/H2 gauges and procedures to follow to avoid problems) Our RX400h batteries are not Lead/acid. I believe they are NiMH modules and they supposedly don't outgas at all. Well, the lil aux battery under the hood is Lead/Acid...but so is almost everyones
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 They just had pictures on CNN. I think "explode" is a little bit of media exaggeration. The entire vehicle did not explode. There was an explosion in the left front of the vehicle (drivers side) strong enough to blow off the bumper and part of the left fender. The pictures weren't great (from a helicopter) It came from the area where the service battery is at least on my ES. Now they're saying two people were injured.
BillyShaft Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 I believe our battery is up in the driver-front as well...think I saw it when I had the covers off last.
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 I had a battery explode at startup one time on a VW New Beetle, but it wasn't that dramatic, it popped and popped the top off the battery.... In order to see the kind of damage I saw on the film...it would take a sizable explosion...you'd have to have a lot of gas buildup...
BillyShaft Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 You know what Randy, you are exactly right. Keep me honest, Brother! The H2 was our main concern on battery gassing. We did have to add distilled water because of the gassing /breakdown, but the O2 was actually good for us carbon-based mouth-breathers. :D The other terrifying explosion waiting to happen was the O2 generator that would break-down water into O2 for us to store for breathing and the other H2 would be sent overboard. How embarassing! Been awhile since I thought about any of that stuff (1989).
RX in NC Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 I agree - it sounds like a battery issue. Could have been venting when the vehicle was being started. Or it could have been static electricity and a worst-case scenario of events to cause a spark and then an explosion of the battery. It will be interesting to see how the investigation turns out and whether it will lead to a battery recall. Glad to learn that no one was killed.... Our new-to-us 2005 Jaguar S-Type has a vent pipe running from the battery core down to the undercarriage below the right rear wheel well (the battery is in the trunk of this vehicle, below the trunk floorboard). Its purpose is to move any battery outgassed fumes as far away from any potential sparking point as possible. I've never seen this in a vehicle before, and I initially thought that it was engineering overkill. After this RX hybrid explosion story, maybe my S-Type battery vent system is a great idea after all....
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 Here's the article with the picture I saw: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/04/doctor.car.blast/index.html They're saying he was outside the car, so this would not have happened durng startup. It was strong enough to embed metallic shrapnel in his face and body...yikes...
RX in NC Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Don't assume that he wasn't in the process of starting the vehicle - he may have had a remote starter kit....
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 Could be...it could have occured as he unlocked the car with the keyfob too...
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 The latest, the ATF does believe there was some sort of bomb involved...
BillyShaft Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 They're doing an update now, its an RX400h hybrid and the woman that they have on the line now doesn't think foul play would be involved, the guy was a family doctor...Wow... The latest, the ATF does believe there was some sort of bomb involved... You know what? I wish the media would quit asking people if they think the guy would be involved in any foul play. There is always an endless supply of people (idiots?) who never suspected that (insert serial killer/child molester/gang-banger name here) could ever do anything like that. Even John Wayne Gacy's mom thought he was a good boy. Geez.
BillyShaft Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 The latest, the ATF does believe there was some sort of bomb involved... Three things, one - geez it must have been "discount" bomb... usually those guys like to blow up things into FUBAR. :o Two - If the FBI determines it was planted bomb... you can bet Lexus is REALLY breathing a sigh of relief!! Three - I suppose the "bomber" just wanted to scare the crap out the Dr.??? Yea man...Lexus is relieved! Honestly though, there have been too many HSD systems worldwide running millions of miles to have some random explosion issue just appear out of nowhere.
atlpug Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 I've just seen a report as well saying that investigators now believe a bomb caused the explosion. But...out of curiosity, has anyone heard of a hybrid battery exploding?
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 I never have... You just never know, maybe the guy borrowed money from the wrong people, etc...
BillyShaft Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Honestly though, there have been too many HSD systems worldwide running millions of miles to have some random explosion issue just appear out of nowhere. Well, yeah, but there were ESs, ISs, etc running millions of miles before Lexus announced the recall?? Before the announcement, I didn't here anything about a gas line corroding and leaking. Did you?? It must have taken some time before the "corrosion" was discovered to be a problem. Oh, the ethanol corrosion issue? I can see how that panned out. State Eth requirements came after the vehicles were built and I don't think Lex engineered their cars with eth in mind.
1990LS400 Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 At least the owner of that RX400h can say he got a lot of "bang for the buck" from his car. I think the explosion was caused by space aliens -- probably has something to do with that pyramid in Memphis: http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc11018.php
SW03ES Posted February 4, 2009 Author Posted February 4, 2009 LOL... It looks like it was definately a bomb, the blast distorted the metal frame of the car and the explosion was heard as much as a mile away.
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