[W126 Coupe] OEM Fire Extinguishers?

[Axel Wulff]

Equiping cars with fire extinguishers was a bit of a fashion/fad thing.

Most race cars have them fitted (for obvious reasons...), so having a street 
car with a fire extinguisher gave the driver instant "street cred" and "hey, 
I take my car to the track on weekends..." kind of image.

More stringent environmental standards killed off the use of Halon gas as 
the principal ingridient, which is the most efficient for gasoline and 
electrical fires.

Halon is a CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) which are supposedly bad for the ozone 
layer. How burning cars, chemical and electrical fires are any better for 
the environment is something I have yet to understand........

There are no completely safe and efficient alternatives to Halon for 
fighting fires and most "new formula" fire extinguishers are not very 
effective.



Regards,
Axel J. Wulff
610-731-5453 Cellular
610-572-4611 Home





>From: Dawid Loubser <dawidl at solms.co.za>
>Reply-To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
>To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
>Subject: [W126 Coupe] OEM Fire Extinguishers?
>Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 17:13:55 +0200
>
>Hi,
>
>My car has a fire extinguisher fitted to the front (below) the  passenger 
>seat. (See attached photograph).
>I have never seen another SEC with this option before, and I was  wanting 
>to find out a bit more about it?
>
>From the MB logos on it and the mounting bracket, I assume that this  was 
>fitted to the car as original equipment.
>Was this available during the full SEC lifespan? (1981-1991) I have,  in 
>fact, never seen another Mercedes with
>this before - were they available before the W126 series? And after?  What 
>is the story behind this (and fire
>extinguishers in cars in general?) I remember in the 1980s and 1990s  when 
>I was a kid, seeing fire extinguishers
>on some cars, though I doubt they were OEM... Cars like Ford Sierra,  
>Datsuns, etc. Where cars in the 80s just
>likely to spontaneously combust more easily, or was it a safety fad  or 
>fashionable thing brought on by racing
>maybe?
>
>Any insights much appreciated :-)
>
>regards
>Dawid, 1990 560SEC Euro
>


><< fireExtinguisherInMB560.jpg >>


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