- An Audi e-tron GT caught fire on a lift at an Indiana dealership, complicating firefighting efforts.
- Lithium-ion battery fires are difficult to control, and this incident proved a major challenge.
- The cause remains unknown, but the e-tron GT has faced multiple recalls over fire concerns.
A dealership in Indiana has quite a mess to clean up after an Audi e-tron GT burst into flames inside the maintenance area. Making matters worse, the car was on a lift at the time and this posed a serious obstacle to firefighters.
As the Carmel Fire Department explained on social media, a fire alarm sounded at a local dealership over the weekend and the sprinklers activated as intended. While the latter helped to prevent the blaze from spreading, crews encountered “heavy smoke conditions throughout the entire maintenance area.”
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Despite low visibility, firefighters were “mostly” able to extinguish the blaze. However, as the department noted, lithium-ion battery fires are “nearly impossible to fully extinguish due to thermal runaway.”
This was a major problem as the vehicle was on a lift. However, they were able to get it lowered and placed onto wheel dollies. The fire department was then able to use a combination of manpower and a forklift to push the vehicle out of the dealership. This was easier said than done as the effort “required plenty of firefighters and water to keep the fire in check.”
Once outside, the Audi was loaded onto a flatbed truck and escorted to a salvage yard. Needless to say, the car appears to be a total loss and suffered significant damage around the firewall.
The dealership appears to have escaped largely unscathed, although everything in the maintenance area got smoky and wet. However, without the sprinklers, things could have been much worse.
There’s no word on what caused the incident, but the e-tron GT has been recalled multiple times over fire concerns. The latest occurred in March, when Audi recalled 1,042 vehicles due to high-voltage batteries that may short circuit and result in a fire.
