What exactly is supposed to be wrong with these vehicles, other than the fact that the fuel tank is behind the rear axle, where nearly all fuel tanks were located until FWD became common in the ’80s? And how does the NHTSA expect Chrysler to fix them? Is there anything about these vehicles that would make them fail even the latest safety regulations? I understand that dying in a fire would be un-imaginably horrific, but deaths and injuries from fire are only a tiny percentage of the total deaths that will occur in any vehicle model, so any improvement in the fuel tank will be statistically irrelevant. Every time safety standards are upgraded, should the NHTSA force a recall of every vehicle on the road that doesn’t have the latest safety equipment? These vehicles were perfectly legal at the time they were sold; it seems that forcing a recall of them because standards have changed (and it’s not clear that they would be in violation of even the latest standards) is like changing the rules after the game is over. The NHTSA would serve the public better by reviewing the standards on new vehicles, rather than trying to re-write history.
Gasoline is highly explosive; you have to put the gas tank somewhere. Crushing steel, some of it containing fuel, is the inevitable result of accidents. Diesel would be safer., even tough Diesel engines are annoyingly noisy.
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What exactly is supposed to be wrong with these vehicles, other than the fact that the fuel tank is behind the rear axle, where nearly all fuel tanks were located until FWD became common in the ’80s? And how does the NHTSA expect Chrysler to fix them? Is there anything about these vehicles that would make them fail even the latest safety regulations? I understand that dying in a fire would be un-imaginably horrific, but deaths and injuries from fire are only a tiny percentage of the total deaths that will occur in any vehicle model, so any improvement in the fuel tank will be statistically irrelevant. Every time safety standards are upgraded, should the NHTSA force a recall of every vehicle on the road that doesn’t have the latest safety equipment? These vehicles were perfectly legal at the time they were sold; it seems that forcing a recall of them because standards have changed (and it’s not clear that they would be in violation of even the latest standards) is like changing the rules after the game is over. The NHTSA would serve the public better by reviewing the standards on new vehicles, rather than trying to re-write history.
Gasoline is highly explosive; you have to put the gas tank somewhere. Crushing steel, some of it containing fuel, is the inevitable result of accidents. Diesel would be safer., even tough Diesel engines are annoyingly noisy.