More bad news for Ford! :-(

[Mercury]

Mustang Belle.

It just seems to me that you reacted the same way the every day Joe will when they read the story.

Overreacting. Big time.

As for not asking everything to be 100% safe, it seems that your asking for 99.9 percent. Which is unrealistic.

Its unrealistic to expect no fire in an accident. And its unrealistic to expect no chassis flex of a unibody car(Which is the culprit usually for stuck doors)

As for reinforcing the chassis, with Unibody cars the roof is a major structural point of the car. Thats been know for many of years now. As for throwing in more reinforcements on the chassis, that adds wieght.

Weight decreases gas mileage.

The gas mileage of the cars sold dictates how many big SUV's the manufacture can make in order to meet Federal regulations.

It all trickles down.

[PKRWUD]

One thing you have to remember is cost. Consumers are now paying as much for a new car as they were for a house 30 years ago. And they're not very happy about it. If a defect kills 50 people, yet millions more are fine, that's an acceptable statistic. If a few hundred die, that's when things should be looked at further. Let's say they decide to install NASCAR fuel bladders in all mustangs. They cost teams $1700, but Ford could probably get them for $1500. Then you have to redesign the tank for placement. Figure by the time the design and machinery is completed, that's another $1000 per car. Then there's the money to train the workers to install and service the new fuel tanks. That would probably only add up to another $300 per car. That means adding another $3000 to the dealer cost, and who knows how much they will add to that. The general practice is 180%, so that would mean that Mustangs would go up another $5400 in cost, on top of any other price increases. All because 50 people died in what cannot be absolutely proven as Fords fault. The public would cry louder, and longer, at the thought of paying that kind of money versus taking their chances.

It reminds me of the lady that won millions from McDonalds because she spilled coffee in her lap.

As far as blowing a tire, let me set the record straight: If you have a blow out, you should hope it's the front tire and not the back. When it comes to where you put the two new tires, always choose the back. If you have a blowout in front, you still have some control, thanks to the steering wheel. It's not like driving a Cadillac, but you should be able to pull over safely. When a blow out occurs on a back tire, the driver has absolutely no control what so ever. They often will pitch the car sideways, which isn't a whole lot of fun.

I was taught this in a college alignment class, but lived through an experience that verified it.

I was driving in my '77 Trans Am (yes, I owned one of them, too) from Ventura up to Santa Barbara to see my girlfriend, who worked at the rock radio station up there. She worked from midnight to 6am, so I would usually hang out with my buddies, and when they went home to crash, I drove up to Santa Barbara. Well, one night I was in a hurry. I was doing at least 70 mph, and just after I left Ventura, I had a blow out in the right rear tire. This stretch of Highway 101 is where the mountains meet the ocean. To my right were shear rock faces, and to my left, beyond the oncoming traffic, was a 50 foot drop onto a beach front campsite.

I don't remember what I was doing beforehand, other than driving too fast, but the 10 seconds that occurred after the blow out seem to me like an hour. i heard the blow out, and thought someone had fired a gun. before I could finish that thought, I was staring straight into the rocky moutainside, but sliding sideways up the freeway. I tried to get control of the car, but the steering wheel was useless. Almost exactly like what happens to a car when the cops perform a PIT manuever. The car spun in circles, while still heading towards Santa Barbara, and suddenly was in the dirt on the side of the freeway, still out of control.

When I finally came to a stop, I got out of the car and looked around. There was a cloud of dust in the air for at least 50 yards back, and that was just where I had left the pavement. I truly believe I am only alive today because that car had such a low center of gravity.

For what it's worth, the damn tow truck driver stole my amp out of the car when he came and got it, too.

Take care,
-Chris

[Mustangbelle306]

Uh...I think we should reference back a few threads about reading people's emotions via the internet. I didn't even recheck this thread until I recieved a notification email...not really indicative of behavior that could be termed "overreacting"

I disagreed with you, and was pissy about the lack of concern for paying customers...Overreacting would be rushing to the dealer and selling my car, or writing a nasty letter to Ford, etc...I really don't think me grumbling about corparate greed could be termed as blowing things out of proportion.

Simply because I may care a little more than yourself about my safety in a vehicle, and at least being informed of my risks, does not constitute "overreacting"

Moving on...

Chris: Your post was really informative about the kind of labor that would go into reconstructing the rear tank design, and now I have a better understanding as to the extent of the cost involved. Thanks for the explanation

[tireburner163]

I agree with Chris, Blue Oval New is the equivalnt of the National Enquirer. I think they are blowing this WAY out of proportion. Sure it thas the POTENIAL to happen with the right senario. But how often does this senario happen? Hundreds of thousands of SN-95 Mustangs have been sold, if this was a serious problem someone would have noticed it WAY before now, 8 years after they were first introduced. My brother spun his 96 GT on some ice(we southerners still don't understand the darn stuff). He slamed into a bridge railing at 35-40 mph. No ruptured gas tank, no fire.

[MTU 50]

I am going to have to agree with what Mercury has been saying. The bad part about this, besides the obvious which is death, is that I can see mainstream press ranting and raving over how the Mustang is unsafe, blah ,blah, blah. And people jumping to conclusions before they know what the facts are or have any other information about other cars crash performances.

If it was that bad, why hasn't NHTSA done anything about it? Again, probably because there are a bunch of other makes and models that will perform similarly if the samething happened to them.

I feel badly for the woman who was burned, however, I have issues with the way that story was written. The "Daniele's son being mechanically inclined gave the car a good once over" and " The force of the impact was not even enough to break a bone in Danielle's body, but the Mustang instantly burst violently in flames" comments are just there to spin what happened and make the reader use emotion instead of fact in their judgement. As stated earlier, breaking bones is not an indicator of how bad the accident was. I rolled my first 91 Gt while going 70 MPH and I walked away with only a sore back. Granted it was a different type of accident, but thats the point. Every accident is different. One article is not going give all the facts and most people wouldn't understand the crash and vehicle dynamics anyway.

I'm not a person that likes it when companies covers things up (if that is what happened here), but the way the material is presented and considering the source, I don't like the way it is going down.

Its a crappy situation, but it won't stop me from buying another Ford product. Driving a vehicle is dangerous and is a risk we take.

[fixer]

Ford has had this fuel tank design since the introduction of the Fox platform in 1979-1980.

Why is this a problem now?

The newest article claims that Ford argues that there is no Gov't std for fuel tank spillage. This is probably why NHTSA didn't get involved.

BON "journalists" then argue that the law is about having a reasonably safe vehicle.

Then everyone foams at the mouth over the term "reasonable."

I believe the statistics point to a reasonably safe vehicle. 50 people in 14 years probably died from distracted drivers in Mustangs. How many have died from drag racing in those same years?

The pictures also show that the mustang is safe at a 50 mph collision. I wonder how many other cars could look like that after the same crash?

Doors sticking shut at 35 mph crash:

Even if you put a convertible on a lift the doors stick shut.
I'd like to see other convertibles performance before i have an apoplectic breakdown about the mustang.

Doors sticking shut is a serious issue and should be looked into; however, the performance of other convertibles should not be altogether ignored or dismissed.

My main point about vehicle safety has always been: YOU are the single biggest factor in a vehicles safety. How you drive the car, your skill, preparedness, etc are the essential factors in vehicle safety.

[Old Guy with 87 GT]

sounds like a witch hunt to me ........if you take a good look at almost any car and use some statistics ,you'll probly find somthing you can say is defective and dangeruos........ford seems to take the brunt of this type of journalism alot ..........

reminds me off the pinto thing when they were singled out ........at that time there were like a couple of hundred car designs that were similar and potentially just as dangerous as the pinto,hell i've owned cars that it seems like they would be more dangerouse then the pinto ever was(example being the old filler behind the license plate set up).....but the pinto was singled out becouse of somone using some statistics and saying they were dangorous......next thing you know everybody was scared to get into a pinto ,but were oblivios to the potentiall of there similarly designed car that could do the same thing

i think saying the mustang is any more dangeruos then any other car out there is probly exagerated ........if i was a journalist and wanted a story i'm sure i could muster up some facts and a couple of personal story's that support a theory about gas tanks being just as dangeruos no matter where they put em

.......if you think about it the gas tank could rupture no matter where you put it depending on what kind of accident your in......personally i would *want* the gas tank back there ,if it ruptured and caught fire i'd want the intencest flames to be at the back of the car ,instead or the center of the car ,where i would be........

as for the doors ,that happens on alot of cars,hell my doors on my t top don't open or shut real easy when it's parked on uneven ground ,if i wrecked it i wouldn't expect them to open.......and on top of that my gas tanks in the same location......but nobody's singling my car out as un safe

i think that this is just a case of somone playing on fords history to make a story when there isn't call for a story

[Unit 5302]

Ford knew about the Firestone problem for years as well. If anybody would like to argue that Ford's commitment to safety is what it was, you better start checking crash test results. Where Ford was the leader just a few years ago, they're falling back now.

The NHTSA doesn't see every trend out there, the Firestone problem had to be escalated to their attention.

The accusations have been made, and even jokes usually have a hint of truth to them. How much truth will surely be told in the near future. If there are serious problems with the cars, it will be made public. As for now, I've seen Ford screw up enough in the recent past to wonder.

[srv1]

i knew about the Ford gas tank for a long time! anybody could see that it isnt a logical place to put the tank! still i think consumers should know about if a vehicle they buy past the Federal tests from the manufacteror. i still will buy them. i agree its a stupid design. keep your tank full if you are worried about it. it all comes down to the HOLY $DOLLAR$! i feel bad though for families or children that have been killed by corparate sh*theads. i hope this gets spread out to everyone and Ford finally comes forward and explains themselves. i think people are alot smarter now in sense of safety than they were 25 years ago. im still going to keep buying the Stang though! maybe they should make it out of plastic like the Germans do

[Rocket 99GT]

'mercury" posted....I'm not going to whine and complain and sue Ford if my car catches fire in an accident.

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Come on man don't give us that crap, we all know very well that if it ever happened to you you will take FORD to the laundry


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Reminds me of the Clinton argument..."who cares if he perjured himself??

"Mustangbelle306' Clinton is my hero

[MTU 50]

Lets not get started on Clinton. At least not in this thread. I have a funny feeling most people on here (myself included) have little or no respect for that man.

[#1 Pony]

See it's crap like that, makes you want to go to another brand. I they need to fix their problems instead of covering them up.
I knew the fuel tank was all wrong. I remember when I first saw a SN95, I thought
"I know that's not the fuel tank in the back like that. No it can't be. That's a fire hazard." Well it was the fuel tank. It a problem waiting to happen. I love the Mustang, and I take pride in Ford, but that is just wrong!

[Mercury]

Dude, the fuel tank is in the back like that on just about every vehicle.

As for Rocket 99GT. I have been driving around in antique mustangs for many years now, as you cant obviously see, my safety isnt much of a concern for me. Rocket you also dont understand once again, obviously, my view point.

Its the Real World. Physics and chemistry play a BIG part in the Real World. Unlike quite a few of these other people who dont understand why glass breaks, plastic splits, or why Gas ignites near a heat source or Spark, I DO. Do you think I'm going to blame Ford for Gas being Combustable????? Or for some other moron hitting my car?????? No.

Now if there was a problem with Airbags going off while driving, and my airbag smashed me in the face while I was driving, and that caused me to wreck, then yes I would raise alittle hell.

People, go after the cause, not the affect.