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DanW

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BTW, I am not saying the tailgate ignited the fire.

But I wouldn’t use FCA’s decision making as a template for safety; their main objective is to save a buck —and weight— wherever they can.

In its natural form, magnesium is classified as highly flammable.

According to the Wiki:

“Magnesium is highly flammable, especially when powdered or shaved into thin strips, though it is difficult to ignite in mass or bulk. Flame temperatures of magnesium and magnesium alloys can reach 3,100 °C (5,610 °F),[16]although flame height above the burning metal is usually less than 300 mm (12 in).[17] Once ignited, such fires are difficult to extinguish, because combustion continues in nitrogen (forming magnesium nitride), carbon dioxide (forming magnesium oxide and carbon), and water (forming magnesium oxide and hydrogen, which also combusts due to heat in the presence of additional oxygen). This property was used in incendiary weapons during the firebombing of cities in World War II, where the only practical civil defense was to smother a burning flare under dry sand to exclude atmosphere from the combustion.”
You don't save a buck with Magnesium. You save it with steel. I know you didn't mean it caused the fire. What I'm saying is that it is not considered in any way to be an usafe material for a car, nor is it considered by anyone in the industry or NHSTA to be a potential source of ignition. By the time conditions enable ignition of magnesium, the conflagration is already out of control, in a big way. By the way, steel can burn, too. The US Navy knows all about that.

Magnesium is strong and very light. It's also expensive. They paid extra bucks to use it where they did. Indycars use it in their wheels, too. If it were any risk of it compromising safety, they would not use it.

There is great evidence throughout the JL that they weren't just blindly trying to save a buck. It just doesn't work that way in the design of a modern vehicle. It is a much more complicated process than that. My father was a plant layout and cost reduction engineer. He could have written a dozen papers on the subject.
 

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Aesikidesi

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Maybe he took the doors and hood maybe he didn't just glad no one is hurt.

download.jpg
 

O'Doyle

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Hood/Fenders are aluminum and thin. The rear wheel melted- I would imagine the hood and fenders did too.
 

dsgrey

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FCA refused to buy it back and it spontaneously combusted after getting on the Bronco pre-order list.
 
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COBill

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That's a valid point. NO ONE is riding naked in northern MI in December.
I've seen Wranglers without a top or doors driving around Colorado in the snow before.

It depends upon the driver.

Note the driver side rear wheel looks melted.

The hood was likely removed by the fire department as they fought the blaze.
 

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Hound Dog

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Funny how the whole thing completely burned out and got hot enough to melt the doors off but the spare and tailgate that have all the gasoline right under them did not suffer.

I just doubt that the engine can catch fire and be hot enough to melt the rear doors. Looks like the old "dump a gas can in it and burn the evidence " fire.
 

Ntegtmeyer

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The fire could’ve been started by literally anything. We had a customer in the past go out for a test drive in a brand new 2016 Chrysler 200 and it caught fire in our parking lot when they got back. Turned out there was a birds nest built right up next to the manifold and that’s what sparked it. Needless to say, they didn’t buy it lol

Who knows, maybe that’s the case with this Jeep. Not uncommon to have rodents take shelter in an engine bay or surrounding areas this time of year...especially if you live near a field or open land.
 
 



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