Automotive giant Toyota will reach out to a customer in the wake of a major blaze that was sparked in his hybrid electric vehicle.
The Soto family were forced to flee as flames destroyed two cars and scorched the front of their property in Smithfield, in Sydney’s west, just before 3am on Friday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Hybrid electric car catches fire in a Smithfield home’s driveway.
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“I feel sad. It’s very hard, it’s emotional,” said Saul Soto, who has lived at the home with his wife and children for more than two decades.
“Devastating inside my heart, you know.”
Investigators believe the fire began in the front of the family’s hybrid RAV4 SUV, which was purchased 12 months ago.
“The fire’s originated under a bonnet so it’s concealed and can build up a lot of heat and then just break out,” Fire and Rescue Superintendent Adam Dewberry said.
It was not clear exactly what model of the mid-sized SUV Soto owned, but Toyota began offering hybrid RAV4s in Australia in 2019.
The Japanese carmaker is investigating and said it would contact Soto for more information.
“Toyota Australia takes the safety of our customers very seriously,” the company told 7NEWS.com.au.
“Our team will make contact with the customer to gain further information surrounding the circumstances of this incident.”
It is understood Toyota has had no other reports of similar incidents with their range of hybrid RAV4s.
A major fire sparked in a RAV4 SUV last week. Credit: 7NEWS The fire started in the bonnet of the RAV4. Credit: 7NEWS Emma Sutcliffe, director of EV FireSafe, a team built mostly of firefighters who research electric vehicle (EV) battery blazes, said hybrid RAV4s use a nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack much smaller than those used in full EVs that are lithium-ion powered.
“NiMH batteries are also very stable and don’t often catch fire, so it’s more likely the fire was caused by an electrical fault,” she told 7NEWS.com.au on Tuesday, which was World EV Day.
“Even if the battery was involved in the fire, due to the small size of the RAV4 battery, it would have burnt out very quickly and probably not caused any issues for firefighters.”
Hybrid vehicles can run on both petrol/ diesel and electric power.
They have been trumpeted as “a cheaper alternative to a fully electric vehicle” that also provides “better fuel economy and reduced impact on the environment” than cars with only petrol or diesel engines.
Saul Soto said he had been left ‘devastated’ by the damaging fire. Credit: 7NEWS Toyota is reaching out to the Soto family. Credit: 7NEWS A Fire and Rescue NSW report from March 2024 said crews had attended four fires involving hybrid vehicles in 2022 and 2023, but did not outline the cause.
Toyota’s RAV4 models are extremely popular in Australia, and the carmaker even predicted its SUV could become the best-selling vehicle locally in 2025, having come close in 2024 when the Ford Ranger topped the sales charts.
“Last year was the first time an SUV was Toyota’s best-selling vehicle. For the previous nine years it was [the] Hilux,” Toyota Australia vice-president of sales, marketing and franchise operations Sean Hanley said in January.
“We already know the number of ute models available to Australian buyers will expand rapidly, and they will all be competing for an overall ute market that will remain steady.
“As a result, it may be that an SUV could rise to the top of the national sales charts in the next year or two. Just maybe, that SUV will be a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.”