| By now, everybody has heard
the hue and cry over the "exploding Crown Victoria". For
a couple of years now, the media has put their little spin on the story,
making it sound like the Crown Victoria police car "blows up"
when struck in the rear. The fact of the matter is, these
are not "explosions" at all. They are
"post-collision fires" following a catastrophic
collision. It's nothing different than what any other vehicle with
on-board flammables would experience in an extreme crash. Studies
have even shown that the 1991-1996 Chevrolet Caprice police vehicle
experienced even a higher rate of post-collision fires than the Crown
Victoria. But you never read that.
Recently, Ford Motor Company has been
victorious in law suits regarding these post-collision fires.
Juries have found that Ford does not have a design problem as
alleged. In some cases, agencies that have not even experienced a
post-collision fire have brought suit against Ford in a "jumping on
the bandwagon" type of action.
But Ford also is now refusing to sell
their Crown Victoria to agencies who have brought suit. Dallas
Police Department is one of those agencies. In October 2002,
Officer Patrick Metzler was working at a freeway construction site,
sitting in his Crown Victoria police unit when it was struck from behind
by an SUV traveling at high speed. His unit sustained catastrophic
damage, trapping him and he died in the ensuing fire.
As a result of this collision, The City
of Dallas brought suit against Ford. For the time being, Dallas
had a stock of new Fords sitting in their Make Ready yard and
eventually put them on the street. But in the future, said the
Dallas Mayor, the city would not purchase the Crown Victoria. Of
course, this was probably a face saving statement, since it is doubtful
that Ford would even sell another Crown Victoria to Dallas.
This action caused the City of Dallas to
look for something different. With Ford being the only full-size
rear-wheel drive police package car available, their only option was
with the Chevy Impala or Dodge Intrepid, both front-wheel, mid-size
vehicles. Dallas chose the Intrepid. As of late December,
eighty 2004 Intrepids are hitting the streets.
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