VEHICLE FIRES AND THE INTRODUCTION OF PREMIUM UNLEADED PETROL INTO NEW-ZEALAND

Beginning in January 1996, premium unleaded fuel was introduced into N ew Zealand to replace 96-octane leaded petrol. On about 7 March the ne ws media reported failure of engine parts in a home-made aeroplane tha t had been using the new fuel, raising apprehensions about its safety. Within a short period, many claims of car fires and fuel line failure s associated with the new unleaded petrol were reported. As anecdotal reports are unreliable, we collected and analysed vehicle fire data th at had been collected without regard to the recent publicity. Data wer e obtained from the New Zealand Fire Service and three major vehicle i nsurance companies. Our analysis showed that the overall numbers and r ates of car fires in the first quarter of 1996 had remained fairly con sistent with what would have been expected on the basis of data from p revious years. However, in the Fire Service data, the proportion of fi res in vehicles more than 10 years old during the month of March 1996 was higher than for any month in the previous 11 years. On the other h and, no corresponding increase was seen in the insurance company data for the same month, and the proportion dropped sharply in the Fire Ser vice data for April. On balance, it seems unlikely that there was a ge neral increase in car fires related to the introduction of premium unl eaded petrol into New Zealand in early 1996. However, the available da ta were insufficient to eliminate the possibility that there was some increase in the rate of fires in older vehicles. Analysis of data cove ring a more extended period might allow a definitive conclusion.