Opinion ID: 2529268
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Vertical Behind the Axle Best Location for Town Car

Text: ¶ 66 Ridenour testified that the Panther vehicle is executed with a steel floor pan that totally isolates the tank from the interior of the vehicle, the passenger compartment and the trunk and that forms a barrier between any trunk contents and the tank. He testified that the vertical-behind-the-axle design also incorporates the positive attributes of the over-the-axle location. The vertical design of the Town Car tank is about the same distance away from the rear bumper as the over-the-axle tank. Also, similar to the over-the-axle location, the vertical-behind-the-axle location is also between the area cradled by the rear wheels. It is well protected in side crashes by the heavy axle structure and suspension of a rear-wheel-drive vehicle. Severy indicated that this location was least often compromised from collisions of all types. ¶ 67 Ford also introduced evidence that there are advantages and disadvantages to the forward-of-the-axle location. Specifically, Ford's experts addressed the advantages to that tank location in a front-wheel-drive vehicle with a smaller unit body car where there are more options with respect to the placement of the fuel tank. Body-on-frame cars have a different package space and are rear-wheel drive, which has certain benefits. A disadvantage of the forward-of-the-axle location is the fill pipe because the longer the pipe, the more vulnerable it is in a crash. Also, the forward-of-the-axle tank is more susceptible to damage in side-impact crashes. ¶ 68 Ford's experts believed that the tank design in the 1993 Town Car was the best location for that particular car because the tank is well forward of the bumper, providing a lot of crush space in the back of the car. It is below the vehicle floor and separated from the inside of the vehicle and allows for a short fill pipe. The tank is inside the frame rails, which are very strong, and the axle is able to move forward, creating space for the fuel tank to move forward which is an advantage in certain types of crashes. ¶ 69 D. Accident Was Unforeseeable ¶ 70 With respect to the cause of the accident and whether it was foreseeable, Ford presented expert testimony that the cause resulted from a combination of necessary and sufficient conditions that had to occur for this accident to have happened. Those factors included the speed of the vehicle that struck the Town Car, the configuration of that vehicle, the exact alignment of those vehicles at the time of impact, the exact location and longitudinal alignment of the pipe wrench in the trunk on impact, the type of trailer hitch on the Town Car, and other factors that caused the pipe wrench to penetrate the fuel tank. Out of millions of Town Cars on the road, it was the only known accident in which the fuel tank had been penetrated by trunk contents and the only known non-police-vehicle incident considering all Panther platform vehicles. Ford's experts believed that the incident was so rare that the risk of trunk contents puncturing the fuel tank should be given little consideration in fuel system design.