[Andy1]

I'm glad you and your pets are OK after this frightening accident. My guess is along with the others that a fuel line broke and was ignited by a local heat source under the hood.

If it were me, which luckily it hasn't been, it would not scare me away from the Ascent, as I think it is an unusual event and possible with any gas-fueled vehicle.

 

[[email protected]#$]

Hey All You Ascent Owners/Gearheads,
All theories welcome as to how my 2020 with 2500 miles ends up consumed by flames after hitting a small deer going 50 mph. Deer hit the driver's side front corner, bounced onto and off the windshield, airbag deployed (but car kept moving till I applied the brakes). I had time to exit with my dogs and purse as the car started burning. I'm bruised but otherwise fine. The car burned to the shell. Has anyone heard of this before with Subarus? Should the car have come to a complete stop when the airbag deployed? Thanks in advance for any feedback. Denise

View attachment 4585 View attachment 4586

This should be of concern to all Subaru Ascent owners. It may not be an unusual situation, unless we know the total data set points otherwise. I recommend reporting this to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), a government agency.

 

[meloon]

Can you track back what kind of windshield washer fluid was in the reservoir? The reservoir is exactly where the impact occured, and if you had a strong winter mix (-40F freezing point) or a concentrate put in I can imagine it igniting if splashed onto the hot parts of engine.

 

[Orbital911]

Hello, I have the LP Aventure Bumper Guard and skid plate, which my wife uses regularly when parking in Parking lots. Works great.

🤣😂

 

[CityscapeX5]

Would like to see some kind of official response from Subaru if they comment on such things? This undermines my belief in the safety of the Ascent.

 

[Merope]

Any vehicle can catch fire in a significant collision if the right combination and order of highly improbably but still possible series of events happen. Not all eventualities can be anticipated and tested for.

 

[Titanrx8]

Would like to see some kind of official response from Subaru if they comment on such things? This undermines my belief in the safety of the Ascent.

When I was an EMT responding to any car accident, even minor ones, we got the passengers out of the cars and ran like hell. And this was before fuel lines were highly pressurized. Every collision was a fire or explosion risk.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Any vehicle can catch fire in a significant collision if the right combination and order of highly improbably but still possible series of events happen. Not all eventualities can be anticipated and tested for.

^^ This. Any Make. Any Model. It can happen. It's rare that there's a "plague" of fire incidents with any one kind of vehicle.

 

[DOGoldberg]

Hello Subaru Friends, I wanted to let you know that Subaru is taking this event seriously. I have signed what is left of my car over to Subaru and they are sending a "crash team" to examine the hulk and determine the cause. If I hear from them in the future I will let you all know. I've been researching "bumper guards" and I think this will be the solution to my peace of mind while driving in the forest in the future. My husband jokes that I should get a winch so I can pull people out of snowdrifts. I'm considering it.

 

[Dali]

Ironically enough after reading this a couple of days in the meadow brook park way I saw a Subaru Outback don’t know what year but it was engulfed in flames 🔥 but it did t look like it hit anything but the engine and under carriage in front was lit up

 

[pro10is]

From the photos, that definitely was a gasoline-fueled fire, nothing else under the hood would burn with that ferocity. That means the fuel lines in the engine compartment were most likely breached during the collision with the deer.

This is a cause for some concern, although this can happen in any vehicle given the right conditions, cars should be safety-engineered to make this a rare occurrence. This, I believe, is why Subaru wanted to send a forensics team to investigate. It'll be interesting to see if this results in a recall.

 

[RobertD]

What A cool job - to be on the Subaru Forensics team. Wonder if they need another engineer.....

 

[Ascentlover4me]

Can you track back what kind of windshield washer fluid was in the reservoir? The reservoir is exactly where the impact occured, and if you had a strong winter mix (-40F freezing point) or a concentrate put in I can imagine it igniting if splashed onto the hot parts of engine.

You might be just a little overthinking it. She needs to worry more about being upside down on a total loss vehicle. Family member just last month got t-boned her AMG550GLE he hit her she owes 10K dollars. Upside down........way down.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

You might be just a little overthinking it. She needs to worry more about being upside down on a total loss vehicle. Family member just last month got t-boned her AMG550GLE he hit her she owes 10K dollars. Upside down........way down.

This is why folks need to consider Gap insurance when they are so highly leveraged on a vehicle, and that's regardless of a lease or a loan. Vehicle depreciation is wicked early on.

 

[Titanrx8]

This is why folks need to consider Gap insurance when they are so highly leveraged on a vehicle, and that's regardless of a lease or a loan. Vehicle depreciation is wicked early on.

It's why I'm paying down my 63 month loan in 47 months even though it's 0%. My own version of gap insurance.

 

[Ascent4greyhounds]

Any more information on what happened to cause this??

 

[mtmra70]

It's why I'm paying down my 63 month loan in 47 months even though it's 0%. My own version of gap insurance.

Just cheaper...lol

 

[Wildwood61]

@DOGoldberg

Hello Denise

I had a frigthening very similar experience 3 weeks ago when we hit a kangaroo at 110 ks (68 mph) in our 2 week old Subaru Forester (Ascent). It hit on the left hand side headlight. Immediately caught fire. Luckily we escaped relatively physically unijured.

Did you report it to Subary and if so what was the outcome?

Cheers

Ken

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Subaru Forester (Ascent).

The Forester and the Ascent are not the same vehicle and Ascent is not available outside of North American and the Philippines, but sad you also had that experience. I hope everyone involved is ok.

 

[SonnyAK]

The Forester and the Ascent are not the same vehicle and Ascent is not available outside of North American and the Philippines, but sad you also had that experience. I hope everyone involved is ok.

Definitely not the same vehicle, but a very similar accident, with exactly the same potentially deadly outcome. Certainly scary to see such minor accidents turn into something so extreme.