If anyone needed a reason to give up smoking, then this has to be up there with the best of them, as it could have resulted in some very serious consequences.

The car owner, Shane Reas of Fort Worth in Texas had a shock while sitting in the car he reached over and picked up the lighter, whether he tried to light it or not, is unclear, but all of a sudden it exploded in his hand, causing him to drop it and no doubt get out of the car pretty quick.

However the car was not so lucky and subsequently continued to burn, resulting in the car virtually being totally destroyed and really lucky for all concerned that was the only damage, clearly this could have been more serious.

According to the Forth Worth Fire Department, this sort of event is not totally unheard of, as the disposable lighters are made of plastic and if it is in direct sunlight the gas can actually begin to reach its boiling point and you can just imagine how dangerous that is. If you must keep one in the car, it should be either in the glove compartment or somewhere else that does not get direct sun.

This has to be a wake up call for all smokers who drive, imagine what would happened if the car owner was driving along the freeway at the time of the incident!

Source [Snafu-ed]

http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2007/08/car-burns-after-cigarette-lighter.html

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