A few week ago, a viral video of a Proton X90 catching fire – the boot area, to be specific – started making its rounds on the internet. Proton, together with Geely, has found the root cause of the fire. As expected, the premium SUV’s mild hybrid (48V) battery is not the cause of the fire.

Rather, the fire was caused by grounding connection to the body of the X90. “This can cause overheating in the connecting area when a continuous large current passes through it and can result in a thermal incident due to its proximity to the sound proofing material,” the national carmaker said in a statement.

With this in mind, Proton’s 3S and 4S dealers will be contacting all owners of the X90 individually to bring in their SUV for inspection. If required, remedial action will be taken by the service centre to eliminate any thermal risk. Alternatively, current X90 owners can also get in touch with a Proton 3S or 4S dealer to make an appointment, or call Proton’s helpline at 1-800-88-8398 for more information.

To ensure that such an issue will not happen again, Proton and its vendors have made necessary countermeasures by enhancing their supplier process control and incoming inspections of the Proton X90’s production line. The carmaker reiterated that the fire is not caused by the SUV’s mild hybrid battery, and that the quality of its products and the safety of its customers remain the company’s top priorities.