Lubbock Sheriff deputy dies in head on collision

[dee]

I repair them and our service dept. maintains them, but drivers won't turn a car in until major problems our the A/C quits. I had one(crown vic) drive with a bad axle seal that wore the axle bearing out until it wore the axle in half said it was making a lil noise but thought it was just brakes.

 

[M. Sage]

Any moving parts will cause heat and around a plastic tank thats not good. I've seen cars that high centered so bad that motor and transmission mounts are moved back through the rubber 1/2-3/4'' which caused driveline bind. With minimal clearance around a gas tank thats just what I want to drive around in and metal is a lil harder to rupture than platic. Car company's do build death traps I seem to remember Fords Pinto and it was a all metal car compared to vehicles nowadays.

I don't know that the metal tanks are much tougher. They seem a bit easier to rupture to me. That plastic has a lot of give to it, and tends to stretch when you try punching a hole in it...

Most metal tanks have a heat sheild over them for the heat transfer reason. We use the Crown Vic because of the full frame which makes them handle impacts alot better. I've seen several impacts on them and only one where the gas tank leaked it was a rear collision at over 85mph.

I've seen far more metal tanks without heat shields than I've seen plastic without them. Heck, I've seen more metal tanks that didn't have heat shields than I've seen with.

Seems like, from my memory (it's been a while since I've been under one) the newer Crown Vics have plastic tanks, too.

Yeah, unibody cars have crumple zones in them, but that usually leaves occupants in much better shape than the more rigid body on frame vehicles. Most (all?) of the 5-star crash-rated cars out there are unibody. Frames fare badly on things like frontal offset crash tests...

I still say, though, that it's not at all normal for a car to burst into flames after being hit.

 

[dee]

Since 03 Crown Vics have metal unless thats a Police Interceptor thing only. Only time I've seen metal tanks leak is in a crash and the seam gave way.

 

[M. Sage]

I've seen a lot of leaky gas tanks when I lived in Michigan due to rust.

I've seen some pretty deformed plastic tanks that didn't rupture, while some lightly mangled metal tanks gave way at the seam.

IMO, the plastic seems to hold up just a bit better. Added bonus: if a driveshaft does come loose and wobble into a gas tank, I'd rather have plastic. At least the driveshaft can't spark off the plastic tank as it rubs a hole. With a steel tank, you'll get sparks and a hole. Bad juju.

 

[dee]

The only one I saw leak was a rear end collision at 80+ to the Crown Vic that was sitting still.