Dalek self-destruct mechanism
The self-destruct mechanisms or auto-destruct unit were a component of the Dalek casing which allowed Daleks to self-destruct, essentially committing suicide. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) The auto-destruct unit of Davros' early casings were contained within the base unit. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
During the Second Dalek War, the Tenth Doctor claimed that a casing contained enough self-destruct mechanisms to "keep a team of bomb-disposal experts happy for a month." This made the casing a dangerous hazard to others seeking to open it, even in the event that the Dalek mutant within had since perished. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)
In an alternate timeline, a Dalek was captured by humans who disabled its self-destruct mechanism, forcing it to live in captivity for a hundred years. (AUDIO: Jubilee)
During the Exxilon Gambit, a Dalek self-destructed for its failure following the escape of Jill Tarrant, killing itself while leaving its casing intact. (TV: Death to the Daleks)
At the end of the Shoreditch Incident, the Supreme Dalek self-destructed when the Seventh Doctor revealed that Skaro was destroyed. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Prior to the Last Great Time War, the self-destruct mechanism had been wired to activate if a Dalek ever fired on Davros, though he made sure that they were unaware of this. (PROSE: Father of the Daleks)
The "Metaltron", who believed it was the last of its kind following the Last Great Time War, asked Rose Tyler to order it to self-destruct after it gained human emotions from her. Preferring death to a life with emotions, this Dalek ejected all the sense globes from its base unit to form a force field in which it was completely destroyed. (TV: Dalek)
In the 22nd century, a group of Daleks on Earth initiated self-destruction after the Tenth Doctor used a proton cannon to make them intangible. (COMIC: Extermination of the Daleks)
When the Eleventh Doctor found himself in the Dalek Asylum, a damaged Dalek, deprived of its gunstick, attempted to use its self-destruct to kill him. Before it casing detonated, the Doctor managed to hack into its locomotion systems, sending the Dalek hurtling towards others of its kind, the resulting explosion destroying it and them. Despite bearing the casing utilized in the Last Great Time War, this Dalek's self-destruct lacked the forcefield and manifested itself merely as a large explosion, possibly due to its damaged state. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
A Dalek that was imprisoned in the Cloisters on Gallifrey found itself unable to self-destruct and so begged to be exterminated. (TV: Hell Bent, PROSE: A Brief History of the Daleks)
