Ferrari's Hot Wheels

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

Ferrari is sending engineers all around to the world to investigate “thermal incidents”. Now what’s a “thermal incident” you might ask? It ain’t a mistake that happens in your long johns, that’s for sure.

It’s corporate speak for “that supercar which you lashed loads of money on may catch fire in a big way.”

The BBC reports that Ferrari is recalling all 458 Italia car that were made this year after investigating reports that they are prone to catching fire. There were reports of the smoking hot Ferraris (sorry, couldn’t resist it) in United States, France, Switzerland and China. Ferrari’s engineers managed to track down the source of these scorching hot Ferraris (there I go again!). It relates back to an adhesive used in the wheel arch assembly. The adhesive can overheat and, possibly, catch fire. Even m ore insidious, the melting of the adhesive could deform the liner that protects the engine. Liner moves closer to the exhaust, woosh, liner on fire.

To make up for this engineering problem, Ferrari has said that the owners that first reported this problem will receive a new model, instead of fixing their current one. In addition, all cars involved in the recall will have the adhesive taken out and replaced with a mechanical fastener instead.

I know people like to burn rubber in a Ferrari, but the wheel arch and engine liner, too…? (baddump-tish!)

Epilogue: When I wrote this article, I asked Herr Schmitt for double the price because I managed to get through the entire article without once mentioning Ford Pintos, the Toyota Recalls, or a Nano. He just told me to “Get lost before I got ‘fired’!” Oh those Germans and their crazy sense of humor(!)

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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4 of 26 comments
  • There was a Red Ferrari 430 at my Benz dealer today. Beutiful car...but, after seeing this, I'm not so interested in them anyore.

  • Meefer Meefer on Sep 02, 2010

    You can find a picture of almost any supercar on fire. Remember the "burning Gallardo" bit on TG? If I am rich enough to afford one of these, I hope I'm not stupid enough to forego full coverage insurance.

  • Niky Niky on Sep 03, 2010

    Funny thing... that particular 430 fire happened just a dozen miles from my house. Poor guy. Just cruising around with all his Ferrari-owning friends and poof... not even a few in-car fire extinguishers (I did mention this was a group of Ferrari owners, right? Obviously, they're prepared for such things...) were a match for the blaze. Car was replaced free-of-charge, but I imagine the dealer can't have been happy with the bill.

  • Accs Accs on Sep 04, 2010

    Jalopnik has been talking about and posting pics of every Ferrari AND Lamborghini sold and on fire for coming on two years... Id like more research done.

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