It cannot. Although LDCI are required now, most fires and overheating I saw were at the cord cap. Most newer AC units pull far less current than the older units. I have a new unit I have for use after hurricanes. It is 8000 btu and pulls 5.2 amps full load. I have a customer has the same size unit but its 15+ years old, it pulls 12a When I wrote fire reports that were sent to the state and NFPA, when a AC unit was involved and it involved a cord or plug, it was just marked AC cord. I am not saying LDCI are not a good idea, just that from personal experience, I saw few cord fault caused fires. I do know the NFPA encouraged fire dept. to be as detailed in their reports as possible to help them develop codes to prevent fires. Trouble with this is few firefighters have much if any electrical know how so only general information is put on the fire reports. I have read many fire reports that said "short in AC cord " when in fact the cord cap melted.
