Yesterday, my friend dropped a lit cigarette while he was smoking in the backseat. I didn’t put much though into it at that time. But, later, I realized, that it could have easily started a fire, by igniting the car carpets.
Anyways, I couldn’t find the cigarette butt, It probably went beneath, the passenger seat, I couldn’t reach there. The Cigarette was half smoked, do you know how long will the cigarette take to die out completely, if it is not being smoked? This happened, yesterday, so is it safe to assume, that the cigarette is no longer burning?
I don’t smoke, myself, So, I don’t know about this stuff.
The cigarette will go out by itself in 5 or 10 minutes. If you do not have a burning smell or smoke now, the butt is long out. You might have a small burn mark on the carpet though.
+1 to Steve’s comment. Any cause for concern should be long gone by now.
However, I have a suggestion for the OP regarding how to prevent a repeat of this situation.
Everyone who rides in my car knows that I do not allow smoking in my car. If somebody’s addiction to nicotine is so severe that they can’t go without a ciggie for an hour or so, then they have a really big problem, and I am not going to enable that problem.
So, whether it is the friend who recently dropped the butt in your car, or it is somebody else, simply making it known to your passengers that you don’t allow smoking in your car will prevent you from being in this type of situation again.
I agree with the above. And one additional point: The cig. smoke will permeate the upholstery and be almost impossible to eradicate. This will lower the value of the car when you try to sell it.
You should have seen my father-in-law the first time I ever drove him in my car some 30+ years ago…He started to light up…and I told him…no smoking in my car…he was furious…Gee…too damn bad…it’s MY car…and I HATE the cig smoke smell. Gives me a headache. You want to ruin your life by smoking…FINE…but don’t ruin mine.
I totally agree that there’s no longer any danger, but if you want to get the butt out of there the rear seat bottom in most cars is easily removable. You don’t say what you have for a car, but ask your dealer’s parts guy how and I’m sure he’ll be happy to describe it to you, and maybe even print up a drawing of procedure that will help.
Cigarettes now self-extinguish, I was told, to lessen the chance of wildfires and house fires.
It is believed that some of the deadly fires in Southern California were caused by slob smokers littering their butts out vehicle windows.
Hope that cigarette did not damage whatever it fell on.
I will be putting a stop to this. From now on, my car is a smoke-free zone. I have nothing against smokers, I have a lot of smoker friends and some of them are really nice people, but, I hate it when they have to smoke in the car. And, when I drop them off, I have to roll down the windows, on the way to home, to get the smell out, exposing me to all sorts of crap from outside. It’s disgusting.
Another thing I have got to ask, i read a similar incident on this forum, where a guy’s friend, drops a cigarette in the back seat, he found it, and it was lying on top of the fuel pipe.
What I want to ask is, just out of curiosity, isn’t the fuel pipe located underneath the metal frame? Or, is it accessible from beneath the passenger seat? I own a 2008, Toyota Yaris (Vitz).
Robert Gift: Correct all cigarettes have been Fire Safety Compliant (FSC) for a number of years. If not actively smoked they will self extinguish in a very short time.
But, they don’t actually have to smoke in the car.
They will do it if you allow it, and–IMHO–only somebody who is careless about his own health and about the condition of his car would allow it.
Just reading about Fire Safety Compliant cigs. Apparently no one knows the long term effects of the materials added to the cigs. to meet the standard. One more reason not to smoke.
wikipedia: Other symptoms reported include an itchy rash (allergic reaction), severe headache, heart problems, nerve damage, serious negative mental effects, circulation issues, vomiting, diarrhea, mouth sores, and nose bleeds.
I don’t allow smoking in my car either. The problem comes when the smoker bombs an entire cigarette 30 seconds before getting in. Yeah, fine, you’re technically not smoking in my car, but you smell like an ashtray and you’re still exhaling smoke when you get in. Not cool.
I’d also be concerned about vaping in the car. That appears to be more dangerous than smoking. A number of these things have exploded and caught fire recently.
Not just that, but the oil that they suspend the nicotine and flavoring in gets on everything and just sits there. And there’s a lot more of a smoke cloud with those things than with cigarettes.