The first warning I read regarding aerosol can dangers was around 50 yeras ago after one exploded in a fire at a council rubbish tip and reportedly pierced the wooden tailgate of a council truck which was parked around 100 metres away.
Cars get extremely hot inside and most cans of aerosol come with a warning to store in a cool place and away from heat sources. It would seem that some people don’t quite get the idea of how hot a car can get and how this might cause compressed gasses in a can to expand to the point of violent escape.
This has got me thinking about aerosol tyre sealants. My current car has no spare tyre - just a bottle of goo, and a compressor that it attaches to. Prior to that, I used to carry an aerosol sealant can in the boot. It’s now somewhere in the garage. I’ll check on it next time I’m out there…
I’m selling shares in my new company - GooYeah Tyres. Tyres made out of 100% goo instead of rubber. Just as soon as I get the quirky handling issues sorted.
An empty aerosol can would be lucky to make a small dent in wood at that range, there just isn’t enough mass in it. I suspect the tailgate hole was already there
However, people really should read the instructions as grahroll suggests. Surely anyone who has hopped into their car after it has been parked in the summer sun can have no illusions about how hot it gets.
The article that I read many years ago did not specify any details of the size, the contents, or how full or empty the aerosol can was, and after the incident it was probably impossible to determine any of them.
But as it was before the internet age, and way before fake news, I see absolutely no reason to dismiss a warning and I have always remembered.
Whilst there are no longer fires at most dumps these days, Victoria excluded, as I posted above, even without fires, aerosol cans can pose very serious safety risks.