You won't believe what this idiot car salesman told me today...

[Robo]

I didn't know about fire retardant/dropping down properties on hood insulation, so good research fellas. In the old days if a fire developed under the hood while driving I would just slit the heater hose to put it out... lol. I ran a T/A without insulation and it would steam during cold light rainy days - it would fog up the outside windshield pretty bad and cause a visual impairment until the wipers moved.

[Tim_K]

The salesman was an idiot. He clearly was new to the car sales busines and didn't have a clue.

But while this fire insulation thing may work in theory, it wouldn't work in real life. The insulation is so light it would have little if any force pulling it down, and even it did it couldn't drop far.

And even if all that worked, those stupid plastic covers that car makers insist on putting on engines to hide them would negate any practical fire suppression benefits.

And if that fire is that bad, you have a lot more to worry about than the fire making it to the hood!

Perhaps the car makers should design the car better to minimize fire risks.

[GlennW]

Originally Posted by Tim_K

The salesman was an idiot. He clearly was new to the car sales busines and didn't have a clue.

But while this fire insulation thing may work in theory, it wouldn't work in real life. The insulation is so light it would have little if any force pulling it down, and even it did it couldn't drop far.

And even if all that worked, those stupid plastic covers that car makers insist on putting on engines to hide them would negate any practical fire suppression benefits.

And if that fire is that bad, you have a lot more to worry about than the fire making it to the hood!

Perhaps the car makers should design the car better to minimize fire risks.

Touche', Tim you're absolutely right that nobody actually did any testing to see if having the material falling on the engine helped anything at all with an engine fire, they simply tested the material itself to see if it "might" fall and then if "it" did would it light on fire itself. Kind of dubious round-about logic. LOL

[aarcuda]

Originally Posted by Tim_K

I went by a local Dodge dealer today to see the 7 inch LCD instrument panel display in the new Darts, just out of curiosity. I was sent to some noob car salesman, he had to be in the 20-25 year age range.

As I was looking under the hood of a 1.4 Turbo Dart, he showed me the under-hood insulation pad, and pointed out the plastic round fasteners used to hold the pad to the hood. The same kind of plastic fasteners I've seen on Mopars for many years.

So this genius tells me those plastic fasteners are designed to melt in case of an engine fire, and the insulation pad falls on the engine and smothers the fire! Yes, he really said this! I about told him he was a frickin' idiot to his face, it was so ridiculous! I came right out and told him that comment was going online! And here it is.

Then he starts about "Look how light the hood is", like that's a selling point, and "Look at all that trunk space". I pretty much ignored him after that hood pad comment.

The 7 inch display was lame too, It seems you can only move around the speedometer, compass, and shift indicator. The Tach and Fuel gauges aren't in the LCD and stay on the sides.

I believe the sales kid was right. But what do I know.

[Sandshar]

This is great bathroom Material, thank you.

[rmfootball69]

Originally Posted by Tim_K

The salesman was an idiot. He clearly was new to the car sales busines and didn't have a clue.

But while this fire insulation thing may work in theory, it wouldn't work in real life. The insulation is so light it would have little if any force pulling it down, and even it did it couldn't drop far.

And even if all that worked, those stupid plastic covers that car makers insist on putting on engines to hide them would negate any practical fire suppression benefits.

And if that fire is that bad, you have a lot more to worry about than the fire making it to the hood!

Perhaps the car makers should design the car better to minimize fire risks.

Perhaps you should bite your tongue and learn to admit when you might be wrong. Perhaps they DID test this theory, and it DOES work in real life. You think they would just throw it on there in theory

[buckwheat]

I went by a local Dodge dealer today to see the 7 inch LCD instrument panel display in the new Darts, just out of curiosity. I was sent to some noob car salesman, he had to be in the 20-25 year age range.

As I was looking under the hood of a 1.4 Turbo Dart, he showed me the under-hood insulation pad, and pointed out the plastic round fasteners used to hold the pad to the hood. The same kind of plastic fasteners I've seen on Mopars for many years.

So this genius tells me those plastic fasteners are designed to melt in case of an engine fire, and the insulation pad falls on the engine and smothers the fire! Yes, he really said this! I about told him he was a frickin' idiot to his face, it was so ridiculous! I came right out and told him that comment was going online!

I Think Your The Ridiculous Frickin Idiot TIM And Yes Its ONLINE !!

[rscarawa]

To me it is not a question of whether it works or not but who wants to think a car will catch on fire? If someone opens up with that line you have to think what incident prompted this. That does not help buyer confidence. That is almost anti salesmanship.

[Tim_K]

Yes, this salesman might have let a little secret slip out there. Darts have a problem with engine fires?

If he felt the need to mention the fire-supression abilities of the under hood mat, then maybe there is something bigger behind this that we don't know about yet, and it won't be made public until we start seeing Darts in minor front end collisions with the whole front half of the car burned up.

The Dart is really a modified Alfa Romeo, not an original Chrysler design, and it may carry with it flaws, because European cars don't have the same safety standards over there.

[19johned53]

Let's see, a salesman is doing a "walkaround" on the car, and even discussing a safety feature. The "up" probably isn't listening much because he thinks that all salesmen are idiots, and then the "smart" one of the two starts a thread like this.

Should I go on