Reference source
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
Vehicle Fires
Cited in 2 Likelier entries (2 risks, 0 decisions).
Used in 2 entries
For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.
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- Statistic
195,927 highway vehicle fires per year (2018-2022 avg); 579 deaths; mechanical failure (45%) and electrical failure (21%) as leading causes
“"An estimated average of 195,927 highway vehicle fires occurred per year from 2018 to 2022, causing an average of 579 civilian deaths, 1,336 civilian injuries, and $2.2 billion in direct property damage annually. Mechanical failure or malfunction was the leading cause at 45 percent."”
Calculation notes
NFPA's annual vehicle fire report is the authoritative US source. 195,927 fires/year across ~282 million registered vehicles (FHWA) = ~69 fires per 100,000 registered vehicles per year. This is the basis for the native stat. The rate is ~22x lower than AutoInsuranceEZ's 1,530/100K figure primarily because NFPA uses registrations as denominator while AutoInsuranceEZ uses annual sales (~20x smaller). The remaining difference is that NFPA counts fire department responses only. 95% of vehicle fires are non-collision (USFA 2014-2016 data). Wire insulation is the most common first-ignited material (~30%), followed by fuel from engine area (18%).
Source date: 2024-11-01 · Accessed: 2026-04-24
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- Statistic
195,927 highway vehicle fires per year (2018-2022 avg); 579 civilian deaths per year
“"An estimated average of 195,927 highway vehicle fires occurred per year from 2018 to 2022, causing an average of 579 civilian deaths, 1,336 civilian injuries, and $2.2 billion in direct property damage annually."”
Calculation notes
Corroborating upper bound. NFPA counts fire-department responses (a census), which runs higher than the NFIRS-sampled USFA figure. Applying the USFA 62% collision-death share to NFPA's 579 total deaths gives ~359 post-crash fire deaths per year, a lifetime probability near 1 in 16,500. The gap between the two reports drives the uncertainty range.
Source date: 2024-11-01 · Accessed: 2026-06-11
