Ford F-150 Gas-Tank Investigation Intensifies

- WSJ

05/11/2011 - The thought of a vehicle dragging its gas tank down the road while leaking fuel and generating a shower of sparks is frightening. And it is what allegedly happened to a number of Ford F-150 owners, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The agency says it is aware of 306 individual complaints about failures resulting from corrosion of the straps used to attach the fuel tanks to the chassis in F-150 pickup trucks from the 1997 to 2001 model years. The investigation includes about 2.7 million vehicles.

In part because of the problem’s potential severity, NHTSA says it is upgrading its previously-announced investigation to an engineering analysis. Such actions often lead to recalls, however, recalls for vehicles as old as the trucks in question are relatively rare.

NHTSA says one or both of the steel straps that hold up the fuel tank can corrode and break. If one strap breaks, the tank could tilt to one side and possibly make contact with the road. If both straps break the whole tank can fall to the pavement. It this happens while the truck is being driven it can cause fuel leaks, sparks and the potential for a fire.

The safety agency says it received reports of the problem from drivers directly and through Ford. Among the incidents reported to NHTSA or Ford, 243 involved the fuel tank dropping or dragging on the ground. Of those cases, 95 involved fuel leaks.

The agency says it knows of one case in which the leaking fuel started a fire that destroyed the vehicle. NHTSA says there have been no injuries related to the problem.

In a report published in September NHTSA said it had received 32 complaints about corroded tank straps and that it had opened an investigation into the alleged defect.

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