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- Ford’s “Panther” line of cars – the
Crown Victoria, Town Car and Grand Marquis – continue
to be manufactured with the fuel tank located outside the protection
of the rear axle. This location increases the potential for
post-collision fires when these vehicles are struck from behind.
- This design flaw is responsible for the
burning deaths of at least 21 police officers and scores of
civilians, and severe injuries to hundreds of others. For a
complete list of deaths and injuries by state, see www.Autosafety.org.
Analyses of the accidents show the victims would have survived
the accidents if the vehicles had not caught fire.
- After pressure from police agencies, Ford
began retrofitting all older models of Crown Victoria police
cars with protective fuel tank shields. Starting in 2004, the
shields became standard equipment. Ford offered this same protection
to Town Car limousines starting in September 2005. However,
Ford has yet to notify the general public about these cars’ vulnerability
to rear impact fires and the availability of protective shields.
- The Crown Victoria, Town Car and Grand Marquis are the only
passenger cars produced in North America that continue with
this archaic and dangerous design. (source: Ford Motor Co.)
- Because of this design, high speed rear-end crashes push
the fuel tank against portions of the rear axle or suspension
system with enough force to rupture the tank, spill fuel and
ignite the vehicle.
- Ford's own document (The 2001 Vogler Study)
shows the rate of rear-end collision fire deaths for Ford's "Panther" police
cruiser line is 140% higher than it is for the competitive
GM line, and about double the rate for Ford's much smaller
Escort line.
- An estimated five million unprotected civilian
versions of the Panther line – Crown Victorias, Lincoln Town Cars
and Grand Marquis – are in use on roadways today.
- Ford has admitted in a deposition that fuel-fed fires in
this line of sedans already have claimed more lives than the
Ford Pinto when it was recalled in the mid-1970s.
- The Center for Auto Safety, the nation’s oldest and
largest consumer auto safety group, has urged Ford to redesign
the Panther autos with a safer fuel tank location. That plea
was joined in December 2005 by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New
York, followed by the death of that state’s second cab
driver in a Crown Victoria taxi.
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