Almost a Flame-Up in Cabin

A word of warning for fellow X-308 owners out there, w/o tinted windows in their cats.

We have been having brutal heat and sun of late, as well as records high temps, here in the Dallas area. Yesterday I had a basket of laundry in my front passenger seat, getting ready to head to the laundromat. I first stopped off at my office for a couple of hours, and then headed to the laundromat. When I got to the laundromat and began putting my clothes in the dryer, I was stunned to find that the big dark brown bath towel on top now had what appeared to be 3 big wide bleach stain spots in it. In the center of one of them, the fabric was almost entirely gone in an area the size of a nickel. :open_mouth: I checked my bottle of bleach, and verified that it had not been leaking and was actually underneath the towel under some other clothes.

I showed the towel to the laundry attendant, who is a friend of mine, and she opined that the damage was not done by bleach but by something hot actually burning the towel (although there were no scorched or blackened areas). I told her I didn’t put anything on top of the towel.

After the attendant and I scratched our heads and thought a bit more, we finally realized that what happened was that the sun, passing through the windshield with the latter acting like a giant magnifying glass, had burned the three areas of the towel, burning almost completely through it in the worst of the three spots. :astonished: If it had not apparently been for flame-retardant additives to the towel (which was less than a year old from W-M, btw), it likely would have gone up in flames, then the entire basket of clothes, and then my whole kitty. :fire: :anguished:

I don’t know if it’s some unique aspect of the X-308 windshield (it does have the rain-sensing feature to it and, I believe, the automatic-dimming one as well, if either makes a difference) that created this situation or not. Also, I don’t know why the sunlight doesn’t do the same to the leather + vinyl seats, but then maybe it doesn’t hit the seats at quite the right angle to achieve the effect. :pensive: Bottom line is don’t keep any clothes in hot weather in direct sunlight in your car, just in case.

I would have thought Jaguar owners would have a washing machine at home ?

I’ll remember to keep my coat off the front seat thank you. 32°C in the UK today.

Nah, that’s for commoners. Jag owners don’t do wash, we have people for that!

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Spontaneous combustion: it’s NOT just a myth!!

I was thinking if it happened with me in the car and I didn’t react quickly enough, they might attribute my “roasting” to that very thing … :grin: btw, i was trying to figure out why that never happened in my preceding 13 years or so of Jaguar ownership, but then I realized I did have my own machines at home up until the past few months. When I moved from my condo of 25+ years to my apt. I was not able to take my washing machines with me (the new place requires “stacked” $$$ machines), so I have started using a laundromat. Actually, it’s quite peaceful and gives me time to catch up on my Jag-related reading, as well as receive a few compliments on the Jags (esp. from the gals :wink:), as folks are not used to seeing them in front of laundromats. :smile:

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That’s what I was thinking. Autoignition, why not in a basket full of clothes, some may even be damp, in a hot environment. Maybe some fat or grease stains… And probably 70+°C in the car and not the slightest breeze. Maybe the glass played a part, but not sure how much tint would help.
Definitely dangerous, but the top coat is probably fine.

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