From what I understand, the problem wasn’t so much the location of the tank, but rather the location of the tank in conjunction with the location of other things. They put the tank behind the rear diff, which had nice spikey bolts pointing straight at the tank. A rear impact would shove the tank into those bolts, which would rupture the tank.
The filler neck was also prone to breaking off in a rear collision. The late 70’s recall put a plastic shield between the tank and the diff bolts, and also changed the design of the neck so that it didn’t break off as easily.
IIRC both my 1975 &1979 Corollas had the tank right behind the rear seat and just a piece of pressed hardboard between it and the trunk. Almost all of the GM’s my family had from 1968 until 1981 ('68, '69, '70, ,79, ,81 Cutlass, '72 Delta 88, '75 Nova, '75, '81 Cadillac) had the tank under the trunk just ahead of the bumper and the filler neck right behind the license plate. I don’t remember a high incidence of fires from rear end collisions.
Before producing the Pinto, Ford crash-tested various prototypes, in part to learn whether they met a safety standard proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to reduce fires from traffic collisions. This standard would have required that by 1972 all new autos be able to withstand a rear-end impact of 20mph without fuel loss, and that by 1973 they be able to withstand an impact of 30 mph. The prototypes all failed the 20-mph test. In 1970 Ford crash-tested the Pinto itself, and the result was the same: ruptured gas tanks and dangerous leaks. The only Pintos to pass the test had been modified in some way–for example, with a rubber bladder in the gas tank or a piece of steel between the tank and the rear bumper.
Thus, Ford knew that the Pinto represented a serious fire hazard when struck from the rear, even in low-speed collisions. Ford officials faced a decision. Should they go ahead with the existing design, thereby meeting the production timetable but possibly jeopardizing consumer safety? Or should they delay production of the Pinto by redesigning the gas tank to make it safer and thus concede another year of subcompact dominance to foreign companies? Ford not only pushed ahead with the original design but stuck to it for the next six years.
Like I said the gas tank in my 59 VW was right up front in the trunk-where the engine should have been. As long as you didn’t hit anything you were fine, otherwise you’d be sprayed with gas. No idea where the tank was on my Morris Minor but the whole car would have been crushed anyway. But my 59 Pontiac could have taken a 50 mile an hour rear hit and only dented the bumper.
I think Ford should have had to recall the cars back in the 1960s where the top of the gas tank was the floor of the trunk. I know that this was the case with some Falcons and Mustangs.
The tank behind the seat never bothered Me much,if the intregity of the vehicle was comprimised enough to rupture the tank,you probaly had other things to worry about.
About the GM deal,my brother had a chevy truck with the hazardous fuel tank mounting and GMs solution was to send a discount voucher for a new GM pickup(talk about a no prize) someone said F Lee Bailey helped GM to skate away from that one.
What did they say?“started with a whisper” I imagine the rusted out cab corners and rocker panels on the silverados helped sell an aluminum body,Aluminum for all its faults seems to be an industrail favorite.
Just a little trivia, the tip of the capstone on the Washington Monument in DC is aluminum, about 100 ounces of it. And yes I have to drive a car to go see it
In the quest to get that last little bit of possible mileage out of vehicles, I’ll bet that aluminum will become even more common that it currently is. Especially in body panels. For light weight, strength, and manufacturability, while still keeping the cost down, it simply cannot be beat.
I admit to being puzzled by why fiberglass isn’t more commonly used in automobiles. It too “ticks all the boxes” and Bruce Meyers proved way back in 1964 that it could even be molded into a complete body & frame. The strength of the unit surprised even him when he took the first one out on the sand dunes. He thought it would fall apart, but no matter what he did to it, the vehicle (which he simply called the “monococque”) never showed a weakness. Big rigs have fiberglass hoods, and boats are made of fiberglass, so why not cars?
Saw a national news tv segment several days ago that the aluminum body trucks got mixed results in recent crash tests. The larger model with steel frame did well. The smaller model with aluminum frame did poorly. And as a result of such crash results, the smaller model will get steel frame for the 2016 model.
What pickup has an aluminum frame? The only trucks I knew that had an Aluminum Frame were some of the class 8 Paccars,never heard of an aluminum framed pickup.
Aluminum used to be a precious metal.,before the time of Davey.
I also saw the news segment about the aluminum-bodies F150
The supercab did very well in the crash test
The extended cab did not
From what I understand, both trucks have a steel frame, but the supercab had some additional bracing, brackets, or some such thing, whereas the extended cab did not . . . to save a few bucks
And yes, the extended cab will get that additional support at a later time
We have a few class 8 Paccars in our fleet, and I’ve never worked on one with an aluminum frame
They had a bunch of these trucks at the Backcreek pumped storage project,I think they were Paccars,dont know if Autocar ever made an aluminum frame or not,when they were selling stuff off some contractors were dubious because of the cracks in the frames.Aluminum is pretty stiff,I dont know if the standard alloys have much fatigue resistance or not,International once offered an aluminum front axle,that was light enough for a strong woman to hold overhead,dont know how well that went over(a standard Chevy old style aluminum) smallblock V8 block,weighs in the neighborhood of 34 lbs,still as heavy as concrete,but lighter then Iron
PS ,many highflat trailers have aluminum frames and wheels,supersingle aluminum wheel setups save considerable deadweight on a rig,you dont get paid for tare weight.
