A CNG-powered car blew apart while it was being refueled at a station on National Highway 48 near Karjan, in Gujarat’s Vadodara district, on Oct. 1, and the station’s CCTV caught it. The footage shows a cloud of dust and debris swallowing the car beside a pump while people stand a few steps away. The English edition of Gujarat Samachar reported that the car was unoccupied, that two nearby vehicles were damaged, and that the Karjan fire team and police went to the station.
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Video: Daily Mail on TikTok. The footage carries a ViralPress/Ajay Verma watermark.
What the reports say about the cause, and what nobody has said
None of the reports I found quotes a police officer, a fire officer or a station operator on why the cylinder failed. Kalinga TV reported that preliminary accounts pointed to either a leak in the car’s CNG kit or a faulty cylinder valve. ETV Bharat reported, in a story on the footage that surfaced Oct. 3, that authorities were working to establish where the gas was leaking and how the tank gave way.
Reports also disagree on injuries. The Daily Mail caption on the TikTok clip says two people were reportedly injured; Gujarat Samachar says no one was hurt. I found no FIR, fire-brigade report or regulator statement that settles it, and nothing on whether this car’s cylinder was inside its test date. Those are the facts that decide who answers for the blast: a driver whose cylinder was overdue, an installer, a valve maker, or a station.
India’s cylinder retest rule puts the paperwork on the driver
India’s Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, PESO, says in a presentation on CNG vehicle safety that on-board cylinders must be re-examined every three years under Rule 35 of the Gas Cylinders Rules, 2016. The same document says the cylinders and valves fitted to a vehicle must comply with those rules, names IS 15490 as the design standard for on-board CNG cylinders, and says drivers shall carry the test record for the cylinders and other vital parts. The retest is usually done as a hydrostatic test, with the cylinder filled with water and pressurized to check the shell.
That makes the three-year date an owner’s obligation, tracked on a certificate in the glovebox. A cylinder bolted under a hatchback floor looks the same on day one and day 1,100, and the only thing that separates a current tank from an overdue one is the record. The PESO document I read states no penalty and no enforcement date, so I can’t say how often the rule is checked at the pump.
The U.S. prints the deadline on the tank
Federal rules in the United States work differently. Under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 304, a CNG fuel container must carry a permanent label with a “Do Not Use After” date set by the manufacturer’s recommended service life. The label also carries an inspection interval: at least every 36 months or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first, for vehicles at or under 4,536 kg gross weight, and at least every 12 months for heavier ones. The date is on the tank itself, visible to whoever inspects it, rather than only in a driver’s folder. U.S. fire-risk defects also tend to reach owners as recalls, as with Ford’s Bronco wiring-harness recall; an aging cylinder is not a recall item, so the owner has to track the date.
What happens next in Karjan
The open items are the cause of the leak, the cylinder’s test certificate, and any police or fire report. If the certificate was current, the question moves to the valve, the kit installation and the fill procedure. If it was lapsed, the question is why a car with an overdue cylinder was being filled. The Auto Wire has also covered a separate India highway failure, a runaway truck crash that killed eight.
Should the duty to prove a CNG cylinder is in test fall on the owner who carries the paperwork, or on the station that fills it?