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Wrongful-death Suit Leads To New Safety Measures In Ford Limos
Ford is now offering an upgrade to the safety measures of their limo fuel tanks as they prepare to face a wrongful-death suit. The measure is similar to the one imposed on Ford police vehicles.
The wrongful-death suit stems from the death of three North Carolina sisters who were killed while riding in a Town Car Stretch limo. The new measure would require a tank shield that is similar to the one that Ford offers police departments.
The measure was imposed three years ago for the police department following the death of several officers after their Crown Victoria cruisers were rear-ended, causing the vehicles to burst into flames.
The decision to offer the requirement of the tank shield on the limos casts questions on the safety of other Ford vehicles. Ford states that the fuel system is safe in the rest of their vehicles, but that particular system has already been discontinued by many car companies, including Ford.
The 'Panther platform' was a common design used in cars for a large part of production history. The cars with this design had the gas tanks mounted behind the rear axle.
Ford's cars with this design include about 3 million Crown Victorias, Town Cars and Grand Marquises, as well as about 32,000 stretch limos and 350,000 police cruisers.
The Panther design exists in some light trucks in the United States, and the Ford automobiles are the only passenger cars that still use this design in North America. Recent Mustangs have begun to use the forward-of-axle tanks.
A spokesman from the Center for Auto Safety claims that the location of the gas tank becomes very important when a vehicle is involved in an accident. The group believes that Ford should not only offer the added protection to limos, but to all of the vehicles that still use the Panther design.
Ford has countered the request by saying that the only vehicles where the added protection is necessary is in limos and police vehicles.
Ford believes that it is important for police vehicles to have the added protection because of the situations the police vehicles encounter on a daily basis. The time that officers spend on the side of the road writing tickets is seen as a higher risk of being hit from behind.
Stretch limos are also being upgraded because they are seen as not being robust enough in their fuel integrity system if they were to be involved in a rear-end accident.
Ford has extended the offer to all registered owners of their limos with a mailing telling owners that the upgrade would enhance their limos' rear collision performance if involved in an accident. Ford is offering a free kit which the owner could install.
The reasoning for the installation of the safety kit on the limos is due to the increased weight and stiffness of the vehicle. There is a higher chance that the fuel tank will sustain damage in the event of a high-speed accident.
Contained in the kit is a pair of shields, made of fiber-glass like material that the owners install over the axle of the car. The shields are used to cover any of the bolts or any protrusions that would run the risk of puncturing the tank upon impact.
According to Ford, there is no reason to extend the offer to all vehicles because any accident can ultimately hit a car from any angle. This means that there is no reason to claim that rear-mounted tanks are inherently bad, and that the design should be discontinued.
Many owners demand certain features on Ford vehicles which make it necessary to have the fuel tanks in the rear-mounted position.
The upcoming trial will begin to decide which side of the argument has more standing room. According to recent studies, the Center for Auto Safety claims that there have been at least 15 officers and 36 civilians injured in Panther cars over an 11 year period. To counter these findings, there has not been any substantial investigation into figures stemming from other models.
A study conducted in October 2002 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that the recent Ford police cruisers did not carry a higher risk when involved in a rear-end crash compared with the Ford Caprice cruisers that were used in the 1990s. The study determined that the risks of a fire were comparable and therefore the company was not required to make any changes to the design.
The move caused many of the police departments that were previously filing class-action lawsuits to drop the case.
In addition to the offering to police departments, there have also been settlements made between the company and the families of police officers killed in connection with the design in accident.
Ford was recently ordered to pay damages to an Illinois family that was a victim of a Lincoln Town Car accident. $43.7 million in damages were awarded after a man was killed and his wife was severely burned in the wreck.
In contrast, a jury said that Ford would not be held responsible for the death of a Missouri State trooper who was killed after his police vehicle burst into after being rear-ended by a pickup truck.
The upcoming trial is set to start in January in connection with the death of three sisters who were killed when their limo burst into flames after being rear-ended. The three sisters, Megan Elizabeth Howell, 16; Tara Howell Parker, 29; and Mysti Howell-Poplin, 24, had rented a limo to celebrate attending a concert in September 2003.
The limo had gotten caught in traffic and was rear-ended by a drunk driver in a pickup. The limo had burst into flames subsequently killing the three girls
In relation to this incident, Ford announced that they did know that the sisters were killed by the fire and not the impact. They also added that the fire could have been prevented if the limo had had the safety shield installed, preventing the fuel tank from being punctured.
Attorney's representing the company state that the company is not liable for the accident though because the severity of the impact could possibly have punctured the fuel tank anyway.