| Subject: Fires |
Author:
Dave Arnold
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Date Posted: 11:20:57 10/26/02 Sat
In reply to:
Bruno
's message, "Crown Vic fires" on 01:01:35 10/26/02 Sat
It is not limited to police service vehicles. The set-up on these vehicles is called the "Panther Platform" which is shared by the Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis and Town Car.
What Ford and NHTSA has said is that the problem is being experienced by police vehicles because of their susceptibility to a high speed rear-end crash. In other words, police vehicles making traffic stops, working construction zones on freeways (like in Dallas), or spinning into a rear-end collision with a fixed object at high speed (like one of the AZ crashes) are prone to loss of integrity to the fuel system.
NHTSA did report that civilian vehicles have experienced the same problem but the percentage was very low. In fact, 80% of post-crash fires are occurring in the CVPI even though the CVPI makes up only 15% of the Panther Platform vehicles. Again, this would be related to the type of duty a CVPI serves versus the typical use of a civilian vehicle.
There was no mention of cabs, though they would be considered in the civilian category, I would assume. Besides that, the majority of cabs are ex-police vehicles.
The other thing that NHTSA indicated was that the post-collision fire event also took place in Caprice police vehicles, but to a lower degree. That would make sense considering the police market was "shared" by Chevy and Ford at the time. In fact, NHTSA said this in their findings: "Based on analysis of FARS data, the risk of fire per fatal rear crash in the subject vehicles is comparable to that of the GM B-body vehicle (Caprice)."
So, should you make the modifications to your ex-cop car or your civilian CV? I wouldn't. But then I am a believer that when it is your time to go, it's your time to go. It wouldn't matter if you were in a VW Bug, if you are destined to get burned up in a crash, it's gonna happen.
Fate aside, you aren't making traffic stops on freeways, or driving you CV in pursuits, or closing down freeway lanes, etc. For the "mom and pop" uses of the CV, I think you are safer than walking down a dark alley in Willistown, PA.
You can read the NHTSA report at:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/current/crownvic/index.htm
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