Cars blowing up???

[m20b25]

Right, in the space of a week, ive seen the following cars blow up in traffic in Dublin or whilst driving on the N3:

2007 Renault Megane
1998 BMW 523i
2000 Ford Focus
2008 Toyota Avensis
1995 Toyota Corolla
2005 BMW X5
2003 Renault Master

I though the days of engines letting go and leaving oil on the road were long over

Anyone else out there have any similar stories?

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Actually all went BANG!?!??

I though the days of engines letting go and leaving oil on the road were long over

Unfortunatly long gone are the days of people regularly servicing their cars

 

[herpsuk]

you sure they hadnt been rigged? or am i sterotyping?

 

[Prilliant03]

2 Toyotas in that list, and not a single Italian car.

This proves that either Toyota or the Irish have a reputation they don't deserve

 

[Freebo]

We were driving on the motorway once and my dad was going past a Reliant Scimitar, he commented on how they were renowned for catching fire, as he said this the rear of the car engulfed itself in flames and continued to burn until there was nothing left.

This was during the 90's, we saw one recently and i turned to my dad and said 'dont'. didnt want it happening again

 

[The Beard]

Were they on their way to the Liverpool ferry? Or am I stereotyping as well? Mind you saw a burnt out Punto on the M60 the other week, and as for Scimitars catching fire, I can well remember a Lotus Esprit Turbo burning out on the M6.

 

[ChrisUK]

I've seen lots of punto's over the last couple of weeks . Dreaded HG's no doubt as they all looked like neglected 8v's .

 

[StevenRB45]

I usually see older/neglected stuff blowing up in snow/cold weather, probably due to frozen radiators I would think.

And Jap cars are as reliable as the maintenance they recieve like any other car, you run it with none its gonna die sooner or later.

 

[m20b25]

2 Toyotas in that list, and not a single Italian car.

This proves that either Toyota or the Irish have a reputation they don't deserve

I think both!! We were riddled with them in the 90s and early 00s. They seemed to have all died away, where did they all go to, the "great" cars they are? Would you be impressed if you paid €16k for an 08 avensis and it to blow up... Believe me I have stories about toyotas toyota owners dont want to believe

 

[skaramazoo]

There have also been numerous Toyota recalls over the past couple of years with serious inherent safety defects.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

There have also been numerous Toyota recalls over the past couple of years with serious inherent safety defects.

Just like the majority of other manufactures! Difference is Toyota havent tried to cover up their failings like let's say Peugeot and their fire starting ignition barrels, sorry 'difficult to release steering locks'.

 

[Freebo]

Just like the majority of other manufactures! Difference is Toyota havent tried to cover up their failings like let's say Peugeot and their fire starting ignition barrels, sorry 'difficult to release steering locks'.

This happened to my mates toyota:

not even 6 months old and the breaks failed, they washed their hands of it.

 

[sludgeguts]

Just like the majority of other manufactures! Difference is Toyota havent tried to cover up their failings like let's say Peugeot and their fire starting ignition barrels, sorry 'difficult to release steering locks'.

got to agree on this one. A couple of years ago there was a problem with certain models of volvo dropping into limp mode whilst on the motorway - not good to be doing 70 then suddenly everything dies and the best you can push is 30 - that's got to be looking for trouble.
Volvo in the US did a recall, volvo in the Uk said they'd had no problems - despite numerous complaints to tv shows and on forums.
Some models of vauxhall utilise an electric motor to assist with power steering, a motor which has a reputation for failing. Vox refuse to accept there's a problem despite numerous crashes & drivers saying the steering went stiff.
TBH, I would far sooner buy something that's been recalled and sorted than find out later there 'may be a problem that the makers don't accept.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

This happened to my mates toyota:

not even 6 months old and the breaks failed, they washed their hands of it.

And in what way did the brakes fail? Any conclusive solid evidence? Funny enough we currently own a Panda that was written off by it's previous owner after 2 months of ownership and 447 miles, she claimed the car accelerated away out of control, yet never had that issue ourself, and we've put 5k on it since.

 

[sludgeguts]

This happened to my mates toyota:

not even 6 months old and the breaks failed, they washed their hands of it.

And yet it seems rather strange that they should make such a huge thing about the brake problems etc with other models. Your mate's insurance should have their legal bods all over this one.
Whilst the guy is your mate, were you there when it happened?
This would be a huge dent in his pride if he were showing off, after accidents people often love to pass the blame to cover up their own mistakes, it happened to me and fortunately I had video evidence proving i was in the right.

 

[sludgeguts]

I usually see older/neglected stuff blowing up in snow/cold weather, probably due to frozen radiators I would think.

And Jap cars are as reliable as the maintenance they recieve like any other car, you run it with none its gonna die sooner or later.

I had a mazda 1800 pickup that hadn't been maintained in god knows how long. it was sat in my front garden for over a year awaiting my attention.
Without charging the battery it turned over and fired after about 30 seconds. I ran it for a few months before getting around to a service.
4 plugs - centre cores almost non existant.
distributor cap - centre contact missing, side contacts badly scored. Points incredibly badly pitted and so far out even a fag packet was too thin! The oil hadn't been changed in so long it was just a blob in the bottom of the sump and as for the timing, it was firing about 3 days before top dead centre never mind 3 degrees!- and amazingly, it still ran.
Even more amazingly, after replacing most of the ignition & stripping the engine & cleaning out all the old gunge etc etc it never seemed to run quite as smoothly

 

[sludgeguts]

Going back to the toyota brakes, interesting how many systems these days are being turned over to drive by wire with resistance built in to give people the feeling that something is still happening.
interesting that mobile phone use is banned on aircraft in case it interferes with the fly by wire - is the same warning posted in cars with drive by wire tech?

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Going back to the toyota brakes, interesting how many systems these days are being turned over to drive by wire with resistance built in to give people the feeling that something is still happening.
interesting that mobile phone use is banned on aircraft in case it interferes with the fly by wire - is the same warning posted in cars with drive by wire tech?

Nope as fly by wire is only used in throttle as far as I'm aware.

Going back to Toyota and the faults, braking issues were only with the Prius and the regressive braking system, and not any of the other models. Equally the Prius did have the issue of an electrical fault supposedly causing the car to speed away.

The yaris, and auto Aygo's with fly by wire throttle had issues with the acelerator pedal becoming sticky but not their brakes. Hence probably why Toyota were not interested in the supposed brake fault in previous posters friends Aygo.

 

[m20b25]

Some of the prius over here have an electronically assisted abs unit. There was delay in the response time between applying the brakes and the abs unit actually registering that you've applied the brakes. There was a recall over here, hence why theres naff all of those cars here.

Ive driven loads of cars with fly by wire but I still prefer cable. One such car I was driving down the motorway (a 2001 Bravo btw) had a fault where the accelerator jammed open. Not fun trying to fix that on the move.

As for toyotas and hiding faults, its not new thing. Toyota bought rotten and rusty heaps back off the owners throughout the early 80s. Cylinder heads on the 2.0TD used to crack. The 1.6 was a feeble engine at best and if pushed hard enough would warp the head. The 1.4 used to eat up coil packs like they were going out of fashion. Its a very common sight to see toyotas with blown bulbs. These are just some of the tings toyota dint want you to hear about, I must find out more....

 

[skaramazoo]

This happened to my mates toyota:...not even 6 months old and the breaks failed, they washed their hands of it.

As far as I can see in the pic there's no snow or sign of wet tarmac. Looks like it actually was a failure in the hydraulics of the braking system.
Personally speaking, I don't put my trust in Jap cars. They may have this myth of hi-tech built around them but I simply don't trust them - safety wise.
Other than my Brava and Punto, I have driven a 1978 Zastava 1100 - which was Fiat-based of course - and never had serious issues with that one either despite its age.