Dang man that totally sucks. I am really sorry for your loss! As a battery test engineer, this is very interesting to me. I would concur with others in this thread that it is very unlikely that this battery chemistry would catch fire. I have abusively tested this chemistry by overcharging, overdischarging, nail penetration, crushing, and overheating, and never had one catch fire in this manner. Usually NiMH either oozes the electrolyte out of the battery header, or has a relatively minor smoking, but no major fire. However, there are some fairly large currents running to and from the pack, so it is entirely possible that the circuit components could have overheated and caused a fire if some of the built-in safety circuitry failed. You have certainly opened up our eyes though!
As a side, I've always wanted to know what the frame of the seats looked like, so thanks for that.
Glad to hear that everyone made it out ok, and I hope that you have better luck with your next hybrid.
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