can faulty ignition cause fire? (without key?)

Neighbour's 92 Accord burnt down his garage/home during the night.
Fire department investigator ruled faulty ignition caused fire.
Insurance investigator said that the ignition was de-energized at the
time (ignition contacts were open) and that it couldn't have
overheated that way. Thoughts?

 

| Neighbour's 92 Accord burnt down his garage/home during the night.
| Fire department investigator ruled faulty ignition caused fire.
| Insurance investigator said that the ignition was de-energized at the
| time (ignition contacts were open) and that it couldn't have
| overheated that way. Thoughts?

I had a vehicle burn while it was parked... key in my pocket. It was an
electrical fire.

As long as there is an energized battery in the vehicle there could be an
electrical fire if there is a fault in a circuit. The fire above could have
been in the ignition circuit rather than in the switch itself. Net result
was the same. Is the adjuster claiming fraud or something?

 

For starters, Google and find articles like
http://www.crash-worthiness.com/html/faulty-ignition.html

 

What kind of Ford was it?

 

| On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:47:27 -0500, "John Grossbohlin"
|
| >
| >| >| Neighbour's 92 Accord burnt down his garage/home during the night.
| >| Fire department investigator ruled faulty ignition caused fire.
| >| Insurance investigator said that the ignition was de-energized at the
| >| time (ignition contacts were open) and that it couldn't have
| >| overheated that way. Thoughts?
| >
| >I had a vehicle burn while it was parked... key in my pocket. It was an
| >electrical fire.
|
| What kind of Ford was it?

E250 Econoline. Sheriff's Deputy noticed it while driving by...

John

 

Was the insurance investigator working for the auto insurance company or
the house insurance company?

Although I have no reason whatsoever to believe that this fire was
intentional, I do want to point out that just because cars *do* catch
fire accidentally, this doesn't mean that this fire was not intentional.

It also seems to me that if the insurance investigator learned that the
key was out of the ignition and didn't investigate any further, he
didn't do a good job. Sometimes the locking mechanism fail, such that it
is possible to turn the ignition on without the key. In addition, even
if the ignition switch didn't malfunction, there could have been a short
in the wiring.

Jeff

 

-------------------------

Considering HONDA recalled about a billion ignition switches for safety
reasons just a few years later, why doubt his was any less troublesome.
I know a friend who's '91 ignition switch exhibited all the problems of
the recalled ones . . . look for Ignition Switch Recall (most models)

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/tsb/index.html#list


'Curly'