gas tank under seat safe???
#1
12-22-2008, 10:19 AM
gas tank under seat safe???
As you may know, the Fit's gas tank is under the driver's butt. I'm wondering how safe this is in an accident.
#5
12-22-2008, 01:42 PM
This brings up the question "Where is it safe to put a gas tank?". In the '70s, Chevrolet trucks had the gas tank under the driver door. So many people burned to death in Chevy truck side crashes that GM lost a class action suit over the issue. The gas tanks in Ford Crown Vic sedans in the '70s and '80s were just in front of the rear bumper. This was the standard police cruiser and Highway Patrol vehicle for decades. So many cops and private owners burned to death from rear end crashes that Ford paid millions in several class action suits.
If you get hit hard enough to rupture your gas tank in a Fit, you won't burn to death- you'll already be dead from blunt force trauma.
If you get hit hard enough to rupture your gas tank in a Fit, you won't burn to death- you'll already be dead from blunt force trauma.
Last edited by manxman; 12-22-2008 at 01:44 PM.
#6
12-22-2008, 01:46 PM
This brings up the question "Where is it safe to put a gas tank?". In the '70s, Chevrolet trucks had the gas tank under the driver door. So many people burned to death in Chevy truck side crashes that GM lost a class action suit over the issue. The gas tanks in Ford Crown Vic sedans in the '70s and '80s were just in front of the rear bumper. This was the standard police cruiser and Highway Patrol vehicle for decades. So many cops and private owners burned to death from rear end crashes that Ford paid millions in several class action suits.
If you get hit hard enough to rupture your gas tank in a Fit, you won't burn to death- you'll already be dead from blunt force trauma.
If you get hit hard enough to rupture your gas tank in a Fit, you won't burn to death- you'll already be dead from blunt force trauma.
Dosnt that all sound so pleasent?
#7
12-22-2008, 02:47 PM
i think it is safest put right where it is. no one in a wrecked fit has been burnt because of the gas tank being punctured and then the car catches on fire. i dont know where a safer place for it to go would be.
#8
12-22-2008, 03:20 PM
I always thought the best place would be to put it between the frame rails in the trunk.
I think the worst case senario is if the car ever rolled over and had the gas tank puntured somehow. It would soak the driver in gasoline and then any spark would pretty much be the end of the driver! Luckily the Fit has a nice low center of gravity and the likelyhood of that is pretty low. I would say Manxman is right, if you punture the gas tank somehow that is probably the least of your concerns as whatever damaged the tank somehow had to go through you first.
The Fit isn't the first car I have ever had that had gas tanks under the seat. My old 320i had two gas tanks, one under each of rear passenger seats.
I think the worst case senario is if the car ever rolled over and had the gas tank puntured somehow. It would soak the driver in gasoline and then any spark would pretty much be the end of the driver! Luckily the Fit has a nice low center of gravity and the likelyhood of that is pretty low. I would say Manxman is right, if you punture the gas tank somehow that is probably the least of your concerns as whatever damaged the tank somehow had to go through you first.
The Fit isn't the first car I have ever had that had gas tanks under the seat. My old 320i had two gas tanks, one under each of rear passenger seats.
#9
12-22-2008, 05:38 PM
6 years as a firefighter/emt and I've seen exactly one vehicle explode... and that was a fully loaded gas tanker that fell off an overpass. I have NEVER seen a car blow up from an "ordinary" car wreck. New cars are designed in such a way that you really don't have to worry about an explosion from an accident.
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