Ford Escape owners: park immediately over fire risk

[saghost]

Is car crash safety testing done with a full tank of gas?

Testing for federal standard compliance is done with the tanks filled with water - allows them to see if the tank leaks without risking the test article (and, indeed, the test rig) being damaged by fire. We test aircraft fuel cells that way, too (drop testing to simulate crashes. There's also leak testing with real fuel.)

[Raymondjram]

I was trying to buy a Escape Hybrid early 2009, but no local Ford dealer was selling it, and they all tried the "bait and switch" trick on me, clearly intended to sell me the larger Explorer (which did sell well here in Puerto Rico) instead of ordering an Escape Hybrid for me.

So I went to my GM dealer and bought my 2009 Equinox, and I will never exchange it for a Ford, even for the Hybrid which has begun to sell here. The report about the new Escape mentioned the problem with the floor rugs. My Equinox has two plastic hooks that hold the rug in place. GM planned ahead!

Now I am waiting for the Volt to arrive, and later a Voltec SUV.

Raymond

[BAZINGA]

I just checked CNN On-Line via my iPad app and it's already fallen off the front page. I wonder how the other "lame stream" media outlets are handling this story?

[ewiggins]

When I watched the hearings, I heard a lot of accusations/questions directed at NHSTA for supposedly covering up the data, that the White House was supposedly keeping it all secret, and how the safety of the American people was somehow put at risk as a result. None of these turned out to be true of course.

This did not appear to me to be a fact finder about who leaked the info before a complete analysis could be done. Instead it seemed more along the lines of trying to make NHTSA seem nefarious for not publishing the results before they had completed the analysis.

Like declaring a house was burned down by a Volt before the fire inspector and insurance teams could determine the actual cause, this would have been bad procedure I think.

This was more about tearing down the government and the president. If you can make a government department look incompetent, you can move forward on eliminating the department or outsourcing to the private sector as well as make the president look incompetent.

I often heard people speak about how incompetent and inefficient the government is, but I have noticed that corporations have the same problems you just don't hear about it as often. I have seen even a small corporation waste money and do inefficient stupid things. It is just the nature of being a corporation.

[Fulgerite]

How about the 278,000 vehicle fires over the past few years? How about a congressional investigation asking a few questions like:

How long has the auto industry known about the flammability of gasoline?
How many tests has the auto industry done with fuel lines which could potentially leak and cause a fire?
How long has the auto industry been asked by oil and gasoline companies to keep this quiet because their customers tend to use such fuel sources?
How many Americans will die every year as a result of gasoline fires?
Did the White House know that gasoline is flammable?

[Sphyrna]

I read the title of the thread and was expecting to see a picture of an Escape parked on a volcano or something! LoL