I used to see much more frequent car-b-ques in the '80s. BMW, VW, and the domestics all had their poster children for Smokey the Bear. Materials like hoses and fittings and plastics just weren't as durable back then. I saw VW cloth-wrapped fuel lines spraying fuel in dad's rabbit at 7 years old, and not long after that he had to pretty much replace all of it. Watched a tired GM taxi struggle up a hill, still in pretty decent shape, and there it was. Ducked and rolled out of my '73 VW bus when it's engine caught and burned to the ground. The materials back then weren't as good, and the hoods were filled with miles of disorganized wire, vacuum tubing, ductwork, and comparatively large devices like York A/C compressors, mounting brackets and old Chrysler alternators 10" wide. Things rubbed on each other, looms weren't so neatly wrapped, and you couldn't visually see as much.
While I am definitely interested in BEV tech and have pet dream of a BEV volvo in my future, battery tech is going to have a wave of occurences and then following safety development, I think. Even a cel phone battery, if mistreated, can get pretty ugly. I'm envisioning something like a built-in battery neutralizer such as a network of capillaries with a neutralizer such as salt water in Li-ion applications, or something similar, to chemically inert the battery if a high temp is detected. I'm not sure if our first BEV (if it should ever come to be) will live in the garage or not...