Family’s £50,000 Mercedes ‘destroyed after going into thermal runaway’ while charging
A family is lucky not to have lost their home when their £50,000 Mercedes exploded on their driveway.
Dramatic footage shows the luxury EQA model explode just feet away from Scott and Georgina Bayliss’ front door.
The blaze was so intense it set fire to the garage and caused smoke damage to the front bedroom, prompting a large response from firefighters in Spratton, Northamptonshire on September 30.
The couple’s son James, 17, raised the alarm around 9.15pm that evening after spotting the flames.
Scott, 47, said he and Georgina were baffled about the cause of the fire which engulfed their car as the battery was charging.
The dad-of-two said: ‘We were watching TV and suddenly there was a popping sound. My son thought someone was letting off fireworks but then there was a very loud bang like a bomb going off. There were flames everywhere.’
Scott said the ferocity of the fire was scary beyond belief as it engulfed the car and front of his home.
The family managed to get out of the house while Scott tried to put the blaze out with a hosepipe.
One theory is the car, which they bought in 2022, entered a thermal runaway, when the battery uncontrollably overheats, and is not able to cool down.
Scott, who works in food manufacturing, added: ‘We don’t know for sure what’s happened, but based on knowledge and video footage, it looks like the car went into some thermal runaway.
‘It exploded 20 seconds into that thermal runaway. You can see some vapour at the rear of the car and then it exploded. Then the next few hours were chaos.’
An initial investigation found the vehicle was in such a bad state that it was hard to conclude what caused the blast.
Scott added: ‘It’s a subjective view, but for all intents and purposes, it feels like a battery fire. How many other Mercedes around the world are that close to fires?’
The car had been sitting idle for ten hours before exploding.
Georgina, 49, said: ‘We are lucky to have got out safely, for our house to still be standing, and to all be here in one piece. When we saw the flames, we grabbed the puppies, and we ran out the back door.’
The couple say they have contacted Mercedes and asked for an explanation.
Scott said: ‘It didn’t seem like Mercedes took me seriously at the beginning. Nothing really happened beyond “we’ll conduct an investigation”‘ ” and not the human element, the danger to my family and the damage to our house.
‘They’ve offered us a loan car. I’m not keen to sit in a Mercedes ever again if I’m honest. No one senior has reached out to me and had a chat about it. You’d think they’d be more engaged.’
A spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz UK said: ‘We were sorry to learn of the incident. After receiving contact from Mr Bayliss, we took it very seriously and immediately contacted his vehicle insurer to arrange to investigate and examine the vehicle.
‘We received feedback today and will set up a joint inspection shortly. Until then, please understand that we cannot comment further. In the meantime, we have offered Mr Bayliss a loan car as a gesture of goodwill.’
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