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This paper summarizes hot surface ignition data for automotive fluids in the literature, as well as the ignition data for vegetation, paper and cotton, and compares it to measured motor vehicle exhaust system temperatures. While hot surface ignition is a complex phenomena and the temperatures attained by motor vehicle exhaust systems depend on many factors, these comparisons can be useful in evaluating motor vehicle fire causation scenarios. Comparing hot surface ignition data in the literature is complicated by limitations in the statistical analysis used to address the underlying probabilistic nature of the ignition data. Because the statistical uncertainty of measured ignition probability can be significant, this paper reviews the three methods that have been used to address this probabilistic nature in the literature and illustrates statistical techniques that can be used to make statistically significant comparisons between different sets of ignition data.

Hot surface ignition of combustible material is a known cause of vehicle fires. Although the detailed mechanisms of hot surface ignition are highly complex, the surface temperature is known to play a crucial role in this process. There has been limited previous work in the literature on this topic, much of which has focused on engine or exhaust system surface temperatures of the most common types of passenger vehicles. Also, much of this work was done in an unrepeatable manner and suffered from measurement technique induced errors. The focus of the present work is on repeatable and low measurement technique induced error temperature measurements of exhaust system surface temperatures of rear- and mid-engine sports cars. Temperature measurements were made at several points along the exhaust systems of vehicles both with and without turbo chargers on a 5-mile oval track.