A taxi Toyota Prius adapted to LPG explodes in Barcelona

This morning at around 12:50 a taxi Toyota Prius adapted to gas exploded in Barcelona, at number 65 of Via Júlia (Nou Barris). The incident left three injured: the first, the driver, with burns, although he has already been discharged, and two more people travelling in the preceding vehicle who suffered discomfort in their ears from the explosion.

The taxi had been adapted to autogas, a practice some taxi drivers and private owners carry out to get greater fuel savings. According to several reports, the tank may have had a leak, and this would have been what caused the explosion.

Even so, we will have to wait for the results of the investigations, since both Toyota and the Conselleria de Empresa y Empleo of the Generalitat will be looking into it. In fact, Toyota has issued a press release recalling that the Prius is a safe car and that the explosion is unlikely to be related to the hybrid system (while also expressing its disapproval of LPG conversions on its vehicles).

Before panic spreads, both hybrids and vehicles running on autogas are safe, but accidents can happen, and we will have to wait for more details to emerge (such as whether the installation was correct, what the real cause of the explosion was, and so on). In Spain autogas is little known, but in other countries its use is widespread and incidents of this kind are not common; in Europe alone, 8 million cars run on it.

Source | La Vanguardia , Toyota
Photo | 20 Minutos