Car fires: Thousands occur each year in Canada. How to stay safe

Transport Canada estimates approximately 10,000 car fires across the country annually because of arson, improper servicing or repairs, collisions and defects.

Heroic efforts by five strangers, who acted in the nick of time, saved the life of a Toronto man, pulling him out of a burning car on an Ontario highway earlier this month.

The driver suffered a seizure, causing him to crash his vehicle off the Queen Elizabeth Highway, but seconds before the car was engulfed in flames, he was dragged out to safety.

With more people on the road as summer travel picks up amid heat warnings, experts say Canadians can take steps to stay safe.

Transport Canada estimates there are approximately 10,000 vehicle fires across the country annually because of arson, improper servicing or repairs, collisions and defects.

On average, 93 vehicle fires per year are reported that are alleged to relate to a safety defect, the agency told Global News in an email.

Collisions are the most common cause of vehicle fires, followed by manufacturing defects, arson and incorrect vehicle modifications, said Keith Fowler, a certified vehicle fire investigator in Edmonton.

“In the summertime, a lot of them are caused by overloading the vehicle … which causes the vehicle to overheat in transmission and related fires,” he told Global News.

The higher the temperature, the greater the chance of a vehicle failure starting a fire, Fowler said.