[Toutouxc]

Not exactly. You do want a deflagration and not a detonation, but "explosion" is more loosely defined and, depending on who you're talking to, a self-sustaining subsonic flame front and a sharp pressure spike are a perfectly valid explosion.

[raffael_de]

explosion/detonation causes engine knocking or pre-ignition which is both very bad. a properly working combustion engine is driven by controlled burning.

[Toutouxc]

You’re replying to a post that says that “explosion” doesn’t imply “detonation”.

[raffael_de]

and that is not strictly correct. it's called combustion engine and not explosion engine for a reason.

[kube-system]

But it is strictly correct. Deflagration is the definition of low (i.e. subsonic) explosive.

Combustion is a broader term — combustion just refers to burning. And the reason it is called an internal combustion engine is to contrast it from its predecessor combustion engine designs - the external combustion engine.

More precisely, the type of combustion happening in an ICE engine is (low) explosive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosive#Low