Search Results

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) publishes NFPA 921, “Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations” (1) on generally a three to four year cycle. This guide includes a chapter on the investigation of motor vehicle fires. For the new 2008 edition of this publication the SAE and the NFPA worked closely together in the revision of this chapter. This paper provides a broad overview of the revised chapter and summarizes the major revisions. By using SAE participation in the chapter revision, engineers familiar with or even directly involved in the design of the vehicle systems discussed, helped to develop many of the system descriptions included in the revised chapter. The revised Motor Vehicle chapter like the parent document is both a consensus document and an effective guide which provides origin and cause analysis of motor vehicle fires, an investigative process consistent with principles stated throughout NFPA 921 and adherence to scientific methods.