Vehicle Fires
Jeep Grand Cherokee Defect Petition File – DP09-005
Updated 5/5/15
Suspect Dies When Car Crashes Into DPS Cruiser
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A woman under arrest on suspicion of drunken driving was fatally burned Wednesday when a car slammed into the back of a parked Arizona highway patrol cruiser in which she was seated, igniting both vehicles and another cruiser in front, authorities said.
Lt. James Warriner, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman, said both DPS Ford Crown Victoria police interceptors were equipped with fire suppression systems that deployed, according to a preliminary investigation.
Florida Trooper Killed in Fiery Crash
Posted: May 17th, 2010 05:13 AM EDT
HIALEAH GARDENS, Fla. —
A Florida Highway Patrol officer was killed in a fiery crash on the turnpike Saturday night.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Trooper Patrick Ambroise was parked in his 2006 Ford Crown Victoria on the right shoulder near the Okeechobee interchange, when his cruiser was hit in the back by a black Lexus.
Both vehicles caught fire and Ambroise was unable to get out. He died at the scene.
The driver of the Lexus was identified as 19-year-old Jonathan Robert Garcia from Miramar.
Fuel tank probe rekindles old issue
The placement of fuel tanks on passenger vehicles has changed over the past three decades, and for good reason.
Automakers gradually have repositioned the tank to an area in front of the rear axle, generally below the rear passenger seat. Statistically speaking, the tank in that location is less vulnerable in a high-speed, rear-end crash than in the previous location — between the rear bumper and axle.
Fiery crashes of the Ford Pinto and Mercury Bobcat in the 1970s prompted automakers to rethink how to protect the gasoline tank.
Grand Cherokee Is Investigated for Gas Tank Danger
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday it would grant a consumer group’s request to investigate whether an estimated three million Jeep Grand Cherokees had gas tanks that were too vulnerable to fires after a rear impact.
The petition to investigate the 1993–2004 Jeeps was made last October by the Center for Auto Safety, which says the gas-tank design is defective.