TAMPA, Fla. — If you’ve driven around Tampa Bay, chances are you’ve sat in a lot of traffic. Sometimes those delays are caused by a car fire.

FHP Troop C, which covers Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties, responded to 475 vehicle fires over the past two years, officials confirmed.

Hillsborough County resident Alison Roth asked Spectrum Bay News 9 about the amount of vehicle fires she’s seen.

“I see them on the news frequently. They slow down traffic a lot,” Roth said.

You’ll see them on the news because of the problems car fires can cause. Sometimes a single car catching on fire can shut down an interstate or bridge as first responders work to put out the flames.

“I also wonder what contributes to a car fire. What causes the actual car fire?” Roth asked.

There are a lot of reasons.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), electrical issues, leaks, overheated engines and smoking are common causes.

Recently, some drivers have questioned if the increase in electric vehicles on the roads is leading to more fires.

“I’ve been concerned with the rise in EV that some of the batteries are the problem. You hear about batteries catching fire on all kinds of vehicles,” Roth said.

In the U.S., there’s no national agency that Spectrum Bay News 9 found that’s currently keeping track of the types of cars that are catching on fire. There are no official numbers on the difference between gas or electric fires.

However, MotorTrend says the country of Sweden does. Their numbers show gas-powered engines are more likely to catch on fire than electric vehicles and hybrids.

In addition, the number of car fires occurring might be less than you think.

According to a 2020 study from the NFPA, there was an average of 117,400 vehicle fires across the country per year between 2013 and 2017.

To put that in perspective: There are more than 280 million cars registered in the U.S., per the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.