Reports of Smart car fires in Ontario multiply

While Transport Canada investigators pickover the wreck of a Smart car that mysteriously caught fire on Highway 417 in Ottawa this fall, the department declined to pursue a similar incidentin Julyeven though its U.S. counterpart had already started a formal investigation of the same model of vehicle.

They are two of at least five known Smart car fires in Ontario, four of them involving the same year's model.

• Smart car model under investigation bursts into flames on Highway 417
• Transport Canada investigatingSmart car fire on Ottawa highway

ValerieHovingaBissetwas dropping off items for donation at a thrift shop in Elmira, Ont., when a bystander alerted her to smoke seeping out of her 2008 Smart car. It was coming from the rear of the vehicle, whereSmart cars' engines arelocated.

"I went around the back and opened the hatch, and it just poured out at that point. It was really a lot of smoke,"HovingaBissetsaid. "I was in shock."

Insulation smouldering

HovingaBissethadjust come from an auto shop where she'd had the car's leaking muffler replaced.

A technician from the same shop came to fetch thesmokingcar. Rick Weber, owner of Martin's Small Engines & Auto Clinic,inspected the vehicle. He toldCBCthat amaterial intended to shield the car's interior from the heat of the muffler was smouldering, so they removed it.

Weber's theoryis that the insulating material which he described as deteriorated had fallenonthe muffler and ignited.

"It's a little strange that the material that's in the car to protect the cab from the heat of the muffler, if it comes in contact with the muffler, that it would start to burn and smoke and potentially cause a fire," Weber said. "I think that is a concern."

After doing some research online and seeing other accounts offires in Smart cars in Canada andabroad, Hovinga Bisset decided to reporther experience to Transport Canada's Defect Investigations and Recalls Division.

Since then, no one from the department has followed up with her, even though authorities in the U.S. beganformally investigating unexplainedSmart car fires inDecember 2016 more than six months beforeHovingaBisset'sincident.

Transport Canada didn't investigate

Transport Canada previously toldCBCthat prior to the Ottawa incident in October, it had received just one report of a fire in a Smart vehicle, and that fire was not due to a safety defect.It declined to provide further details, citing privacy.

The department has now confirmed that that incident andHovinga Bisset'sare one and the same, so Transport Canada seems to have arrived at its conclusion without fully investigating.

By contrast, whenHovingaBissetmade a reportto the Americansafety authority, an investigator called the next day to question her thoroughly about the incident, she said.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a "preliminary evaulation" of 2008 and 2009 Smart vehicles following complaints of alleged engine compartment fires. That investigation was upgraded in September to an"engineering analysis" which could lead to authorities recommending a recall if evidence of a safety-related defect is found.

Transport Canada declined CBC's request for an interview. In a statement, the department said it follows guidelines to assess complaints, and in the case of HovingaBisset's, the decision to forgofurther action was "based on the details supplied by the owner and the circumstances under which the incident occurred."

5 Smart car fires in Ontario

CBCknows of five Smart car fires in Ontario, four of which involved 2008 models.

• November 2010: In Brockville, a 2008 Smart car owned by Jonathan and Marion Wyatt goes up in flames in their driveway in the middle of the night.
• August 2014: Ian Critchell's 2008 Smart car explodes at an ONroute service area in Barrie. A passing motorist captures the incident on video and posts it on YouTube.
• July 2017: Valerie Hovinga Bisset is dropping off items at a thrift shop when a bystander alerts her to smoke coming from the rear of her 2008 Smart car. A mechanic discovers material inside the engine compartment is smoldering.
• October 2017: Aurlie Rossier, a visitor to Ottawa from Switzerland, is driving her friend's 2008 Smart car on Highway 417 in Ottawa when the car suddenly fills with smoke. Shortly after she exits the vehicle, it bursts into flames.
• December 2017: Ottawa firefighters extinguish a blaze in a Smart caron a busy stretch of Walkley Road, one of the city's major arteries. CBCis unable to verify the car's vintage.

Sign of defect?

Canadian legislation does not apply to defects resulting from errors made during vehicle repairs.

HovingaBisset's recent muffler replacement could therefore be the reason Transport Canada did not investigate further, speculated GeorgeIny, head of the Automobile Protective Association (APA).

However,Inysaid the department should at least have contacted the technician who worked on the car before concluding no manufacturer's defect was to blame.

"Falling insulation, in the absence of an external cause like someone reinstalling it forsome reason, could constitute a vehiclesafety defect,"Inysaid in an email.

Rick Weber from the Elmira auto repair shop said it's "certainly possible"the heat shield was slightly disturbed during the repair job, but reiterated his concern about the flammability of the material.

"A little bit on top [of the muffler]shouldn't result in smoke and potential fire," he said.

By coincidence, another Smart vehicle was in the shop for maintenance the same day,Weber said, and the scare with HovingaBisset'scar motivated him to check that car's insulation as well.Noting deterioration, stafftrimmed the material to reduce the potential fire risk, he said.

'It's shocking'

Smart car maker Mercedes-Benz also has a responsibility to both report potential safety defects in its cars and to investigate them,Inysaid, but as was the case withother incidents reported by CBC, that does not appear to have happened after HovingaBisset's incident.

We realized we weren't getting anywhere. They weren't concerned.- ValerieHovingaBisset, Smart car owner

HovingaBissetsaid her husband called Mercedes-Benz Canada while she listened over the phone's speaker,seething.

"I got really angry listening to their stock replythat they had never heard of any incident like mine ever happening," she said. "We realized we weren't getting anywhere. They weren't concerned."

HovingaBisset is troubled by thoughts of what could have happened if thesmoke wasn't noticed.Her father lives in a nursing home across the streetfrom the donation centre she was visiting that day,and she'd been planning to drive him to her sister's home in Arthur, Ont., about half an hour from Elmira.

"He's 94 years old.... Some of these incidents, they say they barely have enough time to get out," HovingaBisset said.

"It's shocking. It's really shocking."

Customer safety 'primary concern': carmaker

In an e-mail, a spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz Canada said the companycould not comment on a specific customer file for privacy reasons, but "at this time there is no evidence of vehicle defect for the incident reported."

The company saidthe Smart car has "an excellent safety record in Canada" and that the safety of its customers is its "primary concern."

"Mercedes-Benz Canada and our parent company Daimler fully co-operate and support all inquiries relating to vehicle safety," said the statement. "Please understand that we cannot give any further details due to ongoing investigations at this time."

List of Ontario incidents growing

HovingaBissetresumed drivingher Smart car after having new and different insulating material installed in the engine compartment.

That wasn't an option for anotherunlucky Smart car owner who told his story to CBC.

There wasn't a lot left of that car.- Ian Critchell, former Smart car owner

"It was a very stormy, rainy evening, and who'd think I would be driving up the Highway 400 on fire?" said Ian Critchell in an e-mail.

Critchell, who was living in Havelock, Ont., was on his way to visit friends near Barrie in August 2014.In an interview, he saidhe later learnedpolice received several calls about his smoking Smart caron the highway, but he didn't detect a problem himself until a stop at arest area.

Critchellheaded inside briefly to get a coffee, and when he stepped back out hesawflames shooting out the back of hiscar. He raced to retrieve his phone and jacket from the vehicle before it exploded.

"There wasn't a lot left of that car," Critchell said, adding he also got stuck with a bill for repairing the asphalt beneath the wreck.

Critchell bought the car used from a dealer, and said he never had any problems with it before the fire.Nor did he ever discover the fire's cause.

"The fire chief said to me, 'It's probably a bad electrical ground,'" Critchell said. "And I just took it. 'OK,well that's it, end of story.' And the vehicle was taken away."

Critchelldid file an insurance claim and got about half of what he'd paid for the car, he said, but he did not report the incident to Transport Canada or Mercedes-Benz Canada.It appears the insurance company also made no report toTransport Canada since the department told CBC it had no reports of Smart car fires aside from Hovinga Bisset's until therecent incident in Ottawa.

The APA's George Iny previously told CBC that insurance companies should be required by law to report suspected safety defects to Transport Canada, but they frequently don't, in some cases reaching cash settlements with manufacturers instead.

There have now been at least five fires in Smart cars in Ontario, at least four of them 2008 models.

The most recent firehappened on Dec. 11, when Ottawa firefighters extinguished a burning Smart car on a busy stretch of Walkley Road near Sheffield Road.

A spokesperson for Ottawa Fire Services said the fire damagedthe rear of the car, including the engine compartment. CBC has been unable to discover thatcar's model year or any information about that fire's potential cause. Transport Canada said it is working with the fire department to obtain information about theincident.

The U.S. safety authority opened its investigation of 2008 and 2009 Smartcars aftereight fire complaints.