HELP Projects
Project 2: Identification and assessment of new and different auto fire safety risks posed by alternative energy technologies
Phase 1: Establish a baseline of incident and research data to identify fire safety risks present in today’s automobiles to facilitate improved levels of safety and track future progress.
Task Group
- Dennis Lyons, Chairman
- Richard Gann, PhD, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technical Advisor
- Joseph Kolly, National Transportation Safety Board
- Jim Gatzke, Toyota
- John Brophy, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Jay Joseph, American Honda
- Paul Schlotterbeck, Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office
- Additional technical input on fire investigations from John Allen, Senior Electrical Engineer, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Progress by end of 2006
- Establishment of auto fires task group.
- Confirmation that the scope of this project includes current automotive systems and materials expected to survive the transition to alternative fuels.
- Agreement to mine existing investigations of auto fires as the next step for this project.
2007 Deliverables
- The Task Force will continue to collect competent, detailed auto fire investigation reports.
- Recommendation to HELP Leadership Panel that the incident data evaluated by the Task Group are reserved for the use of Task Group members and the HELP panel members. HELP shall be asked to consider this recommendation in the first quarter of 2007.
- As they are collected, incident reports shall be screened by the Task Group to ensure that all data come from credible neutral sources; provide clear, visible evidence of the cause and origin of each fire; and include sufficiently detailed information to be useful to individual automakers and NHTSA in the pursuit of improved auto safety.
- Once accepted for use, the data shall be assigned to two broad categories: engine compartment and passenger compartment, and within each category data shall be defined by type of ignition, i.e., electrical, combustion heat, friction and other.
- The Task Group then shall review all data in each category and seek consensus on observed trends and the relative importance of those trends.
- If the available data are judged by the task group to be insufficient, additional auto fire investigations may be conducted.
- These observations then shall be reviewed in the context of the published scientific literature on auto fires, and recalls on file at NHTSA.
- Finally, the Task Group shall issue recommendations on reducing the risk of auto fires as the transition moves forward.
