VietNamNet Bridge – This is the latest conclusion made by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Product Quality Management Agency after it tested 26 gasoline and diesel samples taken from burnt vehicles.
Many motorbike and car fires have been recorded in Vietnam recently. Both running vehicles and vehicles that were parked caught fire. These fires have not only caused economic losses but made people worried.

According to a report of the Ministry of Public Security, 324 vehicles had caught fire across the country in 2010 and 2011. Incomplete statistics showed that another 65 cases have been recorded in the first three months of 2012.

Many people have voiced their suspicions that poor gasoline may be the reason behind those fires.

However, Senior lieutenant colonel Nguyen Van Son, from the Hanoi Fire Fighting Department, says that investigation of several car fires in Hanoi shows that despite the fuel (gasoline or diesel), fires would have not happen if these vehicles did not have heat-source related incidents. Meanwhile, car owners dared not to admit changing or installing more devices on their cars like horns or lamps, which might lead to overloaded heat source.

To verify whether gasoline can cause vehicle fires, the Product Quality Management Agency tested 26 samples of gasoline taken from burnt vehicles from December 27, 2011, to March 9 2012. The agency has concluded that gasoline did not cause fires.

Some other agencies are also conducting investigations to find out the reasons of vehicle fires.

Nam Nguyen