Opinion ID: 2529268
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Other Evidence Regarding Industry Standards

Text: ¶ 36 Arndt also testified that by 1991 all manufacturers were designing their new model vehicles with fuel tanks located forward of the axle and Ford's global architectural plan as of 1989 indicated that all new models would have fuel tanks located forward of the axle. In 1981, Ford began moving the fuel tank in various models to a forward-of-the-axle location. By 1991, the only vehicles still designed by Ford with a fuel tank located aft-of-axle were the Mustang and the Panther platform vehicles. ¶ 37 Arndt agreed that a manufacturer cannot prevent every postcollision fire from occurring in a vehicle and that a fuel tank cannot be designed to be completely fireproof. Rather, the manufacturer is responsible for a design that holds the fuel integrity of the vehicle. He acknowledged that the 1993 Lincoln Town Car satisfied the federal motor vehicle safety standards for fuel integrity applicable to 1993 model vehicles and that Ford exceeded that standard with its own heightened 50-miles-per-hour crash testing.