>My concerns is vanagon related because our batteries are mounted under the
>front seats. I have never seen such a violent destruction of a battery and
>I sure do not want to have it in the interior of the car.
>
>Any thoughts?

Sure, the electrolyte level got really low, hydrogen gas built up, and a
spark between the plates ignited it. Poor maintenance of the battery,
and/or a poorly constructed battery caused this problem.

In short, these things all have to be happening for a battery to explode:

1.) The electrolyte level must be low, exposing the plates.(can happen
anyway, but the probability goes way down when the level is correct)
2.) There must be a poor connection inside the battery, or in the immediate
vicinity that can produce a spark.
3.) Hydrogen gas must be present. All lead acid batteries produce some
hydrogen gas when charged. Low electrolyte level exacerbates this phenomena.

The usual time for this to happen is when starting the car (high current)
or while charging (abundant hydrogen gas, and a current flow).

To prevent this type of catastrophe, keep the electrolyte level topped up
with distilled water, Keep the battery connections clean and tight, and
ALWAYS replace an ailing battery promptly.  BTW, if you can find it DEKA
makes a battery connection protector that's simply excellent. Battery
terminals protected with this stuff never corrode, provided the coating is
renewed once a year or so. Also, for those in the auto business, it seems
to be the same stuff as the battery protector sold by Windsor. However,
it's considerably cheaper at farm and fleet under the deka brand name.

Joshua Van Tol -- jjvantol@uswest.net