Fastener Bracket Failure
Fasteners often secure brackets to automotive structures. Some brackets secure a rotating shaft bearing housing to a vehicle frame, which is the subject of this failure analysis. Shown in Figure 1 is a bracket (yellow arrow) that has slipped out of position. The red arrow shows the bolt securing the bracket. When the bracket that secured a driveshaft bearing housing moved out of position, it pinched an electrical cable that eventually shorted to ground. The short caused an arc that ignited combustible material in the vehicle while the vehicle engine was running. The resulting fire destroyed the vehicle. The bracket supported a rotating power take-off (PTO) shaft and was subjected to typical shaft vibration.