[Petronski]

I defy anyone to name a front-engine vehicle that can be rear-ended at 75 miles-per-hour and not catch on fire.


It doesn't exist.

[CFC__VRWC]

I defy anyone to name a front-engine vehicle that can be rear-ended at 75 miles-per-hour and not catch on fire.

I had an '86 Chevey Cavalier that was a year old when some drunk rear-ended it while I was at a friend's house one night. The police estimate he was doing at least 70 when he hit my car. The impact crushed it like an accordion, but the car didn't catch fire.

I wasn't in the car when he hit it - even though it didn't burn, I doubt I would have survived the impact had I have been. At the very least I would have been seriously maimed and/or crippled.

[Clinging Bitterly]

I'd guess that any car with a tank of gasoline strapped underneath could possibly catch fire if impacted at high speed.

I'd also guess that most of the time they don't. Even Crown Vics, or Pintos, or GM trucks.

That said, it still happens, and sometimes more often in some models than others. Don't know the actual statistics because it doesn't interest me enough to bother looking for them, but I'd be willing to bet the Crown Vic is one of them. If Ford could identify a cause for that the right thing to do would be to fix it, but I doubt Ford's legal department would allow them to voluntarily do that because it could be taken as a sort of admission of guilt - which would be a problem for them with claims currently in litigation.

I think I read somewhere that it was determined by someone that a particular bolt in the rear structure of the Crown Vic was puncturing the tanks. It would probably cost just a few bucks a car to fix, but there are those darn lawyers.

It's too bad things have to be that way. Society needs to realize someday that cars and trucks have inherent dangers, and that it is not possible to foresee every possible danger and build a model that will guarantee survival of any accident. Sometimes folks even get killed in fender benders.