A Nissan-owner in Stoneham, MA got the rare chance to feel like a movie terrorist or a mob boss when her car's remote key fob acted like a bomb detonator. The owner, Jackie Sugrue, was approaching her car when she clicked the button to open the trunk. When she did, the trunk did open, but only because the trunk lid was blown over several other rows of parked cars from the force of the explosion.
Luckily, no one was hurt, but Sugrue's car is now a tortured wad of metal.
Investigators have suggested that the blast was caused by ignition of flammable vapors in the trunk. The vapors were suspected to have come from "plumbing equipment" stored inside.
This explanation brings up lots of questions of its own: what were these pieces of "plumbing equipment?" Those gag exploding toilet seats? Witnesses say there were no flames, which could suggest a methane/sewer gas type of explosion, as methane flames can be hard to see in daylight.
Also worth questioning is what is creating the spark in a trunk-unlocking cycle on a Nissan? A stripped wire, grounding to the body? Something else? It'd be worth knowing, to prevent these unintended car-bombs in the future.
Thankfully, the owner popped her trunk well before she was near the car. So, if you routinely haul fart-filled toilet drain pipes in your trunk, stand back before clicking that remote.
(Thanks, Eric!)
(Source: WHDH News)