gas tanks puncturing in rear end collisions

[Silent Majority]

CNN hosted a program on the Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car catching fire due to gas tank puntures caused by rear end collisions. This results in almost immediate death of occupants.

The gas tanks puncture due to sharp/edged object (bolt heads, struts, etc,) and the tanks wrap around the rear axle due to its location between the axle and bumper.

My question, do we Camaro/Firebird owners need to be concerned with this issue? Are there sharp or edged objects that reside under the rear area of the car that can result in a punctured gas tank in a rear end collision? If so, please list so that myself and others can take care of this potential problem.

Thanks
dave

Also, Ford has already placed a plastic barrier to protect the Mustang gas tank so that does not occur with that car.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/index.html

[bu-bye]

I think you have to worry about this with every car. There is no telling what will happend in a crash. If you get hit, you get hit. Its all just luck (I guess that would be called bad luck really). Different cars will do different things. If you get hit by a Geo I would not worry but if you see a hummer charging at you now is the time to pray. Our tanks are above the axle but there are other things that can punture the tank in our cars too. I would not spend to much time thinking about this. Crashes suck but there is nothing we can do some times. Just do your best to watch the guy behind you.

[ July 24, 2002: Message edited by: bu-bye ]

[ July 24, 2002: Message edited by: bu-bye ]</p>

[redbird00]

well, being in a rear end collision with my previous bird(i wasn't in the car thank goodness) i was parked and a honda crv hit my car around 55-65 i really dont know but it did a lot of freakin damage, i feel lucky that the gas tank didnt explode, i'm sure there are plenty of things that could get jammed up there, but it would also depend on how they hit you(direction, being directly head on, or off to the side) when they took my car to the place where they take totaled cars, they take all the gas out of it, and they said that my tank still had pressure because i asked them... i dunno, i guess its all about being in the right place at the right time...

merlin

[BIG Daddy]

I was rear ended in my Camaro. I was sitting in traffic when the car behind me slammed me at 70mph.

The gas tank did not explode. The car was driveable. The other car was totaled.My car was repaired w/minimal damage.