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FORD OFFERS FUEL TANK SHIELDS FOR LIMOS PRIOR TO HIGH-PROFILE LIMO DEATHS TRIAL WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Ford Motor Co. is offering Lincoln Town Car limousine dealers free upgrades to protect fuel tanks in rear crashes just three months before the automaker goes on trial in the high-profile deaths of three sisters who burned to death in a Ford limousine in 2003. In a letter this month to limo dealers, Ford states, “Due to the increased weight and stiffness of the Town Car stretch limousine, there is an increased chance that the fuel tank may be punctured in a high-speed/high energy rear collision.” The automaker is offering to provide protective fuel tank shields and straps to the dealers, who must pay to install them. The three sisters (Tara Howell Parker, 29, Mysti Howell-Poplin, 24, and Megan Howell, 16) burned to death Sept. 10, 2003 when the Town Car limousine they were returning home in after a Fleetwood Mac concert in Greensboro was struck from behind by a drunk driver and exploded into flames. The limousine was stopped in traffic at the time. The doors jammed, trapping the screaming women inside. The driver escaped. Families of the victims are suing Ford for continuing to offer for public use vehicles that burst into flames when struck at high speeds from behind. The trial is scheduled to get underway January 16, in the General Court of Justice in Mocksville, NC, about 40 miles from Winston-Salem. The special trial date is not subject to change. The Town Car limousine is mechanically identical to the Ford Crown Victoria police car, which has been blamed in the fire deaths of at least 18 police officers in recent years, and which Ford began upgrading with protective shields in 2002. This is the second major trial highlighting civilian deaths related to fuel tank issues associated with Ford’s panther line of cars – the Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis. The fuel tank in these models is located between the rear axle and the trunk, making it vulnerable to puncture or crushing in high-speed rear crashes. They are the only remaining car models in North American with the fuel tank located outside the safety of the rear axle. In the first such trial, an Illinois returned a $43 million verdict against Ford in April of this year. John Jablonski, 73, died from burns and his wife Dora, 70, was severely and permanently injured due to the fire. In that trial, the jury took Ford to task for not alerting civilian drivers about the risks of fuel-fed fires in its Panther models at the same time it alerted law enforcement agencies to the problem. The automaker has consistently ignored calls by auto safety groups to put the safety devices on civilian versions of its Panther line. Tara, a former Miss Winston, and her husband, Shawn, a former NASCAR crew chief, had adopted an infant son two months prior to her death. Mysti and her husband, Shane, were raising an 8-monthold daughter. Sixteen-year-old Megan was on her first big outing with her adult sisters the night they died. At least 18 civilians are known to have burned to death following rear-impact crashes involving civilian versions of the Crown Victoria, Town Car and Grand Prix since 2003. The Center for Auto Safety puts the civilian fire death toll at 80 in these vehicles between 1992 and 2001. The latest reported death occurred August 5th in Louisiana. Public outcry
and lawsuits over mounting police deaths and injuries forced Ford
to begin retrofitting older Crown Victoria police cars with protective
shields in late 2002. The shields became standard on police versions
of the Crown Victoria in 2003. |
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