Ferrari investigate mysterious 458 Italia accidents

Luxury carmaker Ferrari is investigating a number of incidents where its new 458 Italia has either crashed or mysteriously caught fire.

Several photos of burnt-out or crashed Ferrari 458s have surfaced on the internet over the past week. Some have questioned the £170,000 supercar's safety, which may force potential buyers thinking "I'm going to sell my Porsche and buy a 458" to reconsider.

Mail Online report that in the space of three months, six Ferrari 458 Italia's have been involved in crashes, three have burst into flames and another has been destroyed in a warehouse fire.

So far, there has been no evidence to suggest that the 458 has an underlying technical fault. It is more likely that the fires and crashes are the result of excited new owners underestimating the power of the car, which has a top speed of 202mph.

The incidents are nonetheless rather worrying, and Ferrari is understandably keen to establish what has been going wrong.

"The company is currently investigating the particular incidents in which vehicles have apparently been involved in a vehicle fire, and it is currently treating these as separate incidents," Ferrari said in a statement.

Greg Carlson, the founder of the website where the photos were originally posted, says he expected to see the new 458 in crashes, but that has been surprised by just how many incidents have been reported.

"The 458 Italia is Ferrari's latest high-production vehicle so I knew there would be many crashes but I didn't expect there to be so many so soon," Carlson told The Telegraph.

"It is not uncommon for new exotic models to start off with a few crashes - owners are getting the feel for the new car, some are taking it beyond their skill level, although the 458 does have a higher than normal crash count so far.

 

Mark Titcombe, Swindon, Subaru Impreza

Neil Whitehead, Liverpool, MAZDA 2