TV vs. Reality: Are cars really exploding as fast as it is known from movies and television?

Actually, you cannot believe in all the things you can see on TV. I have seen a test where some people tried to let a car explode like it can usually be seen in movies: it was much more difficult than expected, finally it has never worked properly in the whole experiment.

The shots into the fuel tank only led to a leakage of gasoline, but not to an explosion. If fire was involved, indeed, the petrol starts burning, but again, no explosion. For this, an ideal mixture of air and fuel has to be present and ideally, the petrol has to splash in all directions when coming into contact with the fire or a spark, so that an explosion is possible. That is because for an explosion, you need a large surface, so that much flammable material meets the air simultaneously. Of course, this is not fully unthinkable in reality, but quite unrealistic.

Also the typical turning over is only possible in the movies with help from outside and bringing the car with force into this movement. This has also be done in the experiment, but also during this procedure, the car has not caught fire, even less exploded.

All in all, such an explosion is more than unlikely -even if certainly, unfavorable conditions are making an explosion not entirely impossible in the real world. Nevertheless, I would not provoke it, but you do not have to have any fear.
2013-06-12 at 11:43