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Car Forum / Saab Cars / July 2004Do the Volvo S80 and Saab 9-5 have center fuel tanks or rear fuel tanks?
Right now the car I drive most is my dad's 2000 Lincoln Town car, and I just don't feel like it's a very safe car. For one thing it only has a 4 star rating in the EASY NHTSA front crash test and only a 4 star rating in the side crash test, and it NEVER was tested in the front offset test, but if it ever was I'm sure it would have gotten a marginal or poor rating. The Lincoln Town car also just feels like it would be very bad at accident avoidance because of its poor acceleration, poor braking, poor cornering, etc, etc. If that wasn't bad enough, the Lincoln Town Car has a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE fuel tank position in the opinion of most experts, the fuel tank is located BEHIND the rear axle, the same is true for the Mustang, Crown Victoria, and Grand Marquis(has Ford learned NOTHING from the Pinto?). I was just wondering if the Volvo S80 and the Saab 9-5(2002-2005) have center fuel tanks(a tank located between the rear axle and front axle) or if they have a rear fuel tank(a tank located behind the rear axle). I'm going to be getting my first car eventually and I want to make sure that it has a center fuel tank, and not a rear fuel tank. Don't a lot of cars have rear fuel tanks? - On my old 1991 Golf, you could see it hanging below the car if you looked at it from the back :-). Never heard of any problems with tank locations - do they still have the problem of exploding in accidents when mounted on the back? I heard the Pinto problem was because of a poorly positioned brakcet. > Right now the car I drive most is my dad's 2000 Lincoln Town car, and > I just don't feel like it's a very safe car. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > I'm going to be getting my first car eventually and I want to make > sure that it has a center fuel tank, and not a rear fuel tank. > I was just wondering if the Volvo S80 and the Saab 9-5(2002-2005) have > center fuel tanks(a tank located between the rear axle and front axle) > or if they have a rear fuel tank(a tank located behind the rear axle). > I'm going to be getting my first car eventually and I want to make > sure that it has a center fuel tank, and not a rear fuel tank. There are a million factors that are at least as important as specifically where the fuel tank is. Saab and Volvo don't have a problem with fuel tanks in collisions. And yes, the tank is much forward from the rear bumper than Ford has a habit of putting them. Off topic: I agree that the Town car is a pig of a vehicle, but I would have thought that the mass of the thing would have made it safer. Personally, I drive an '04 and love it, safety issues aside. It's a beautiful car. > Right now the car I drive most is my dad's 2000 Lincoln Town car, and > I just don't feel like it's a very safe car. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > I'm going to be getting my first car eventually and I want to make > sure that it has a center fuel tank, and not a rear fuel tank. The later 2003 and later model Town Cars do have 5 star ratings in the NHTSA front crash test, side crash test, and rollover resistance, and good ratings in the IIHS front offset crash test. That's not the problem with the town car. The problem is in high speed rear accidents. Nothing will happen if the Town Car, Crown Victoria, or Grand Marquis gets hit from behind at 30mph. However if it gets hit from behind at 50mph, 60mph, or 70 mph, then the fuel tank location behind the rear axle doesn't seem like a very good idea. Check out these 3 rear crash tests done by the Police on the Crown Victoria. It's a shame that the Government doesn't do these kid of 50mph+ rear crash tests because they're very important in finding out how fire resistant a car's design is in rear crashes. I heard that the Government will start doing such tests in 2006 though, so I guess it's better late than never. Anyway, here are the crash test videos. http://www.crownvictoriasafetyalert.com/new_crash_tests.html I've read that installing a fuel bladder inside the gas tank as well as installing a fireshield of fire retardant material around the gas tank will make Town Cars, Crown Victorias, and Grand Marquis able to withstand rear impacts of over 80 mph without any fuel leaking. > Off topic: I agree that the Town car is a pig of a vehicle, but I would > have thought that the mass of the thing would have made it safer. [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > I'm going to be getting my first car eventually and I want to make > > sure that it has a center fuel tank, and not a rear fuel tank. > If that wasn't bad enough, the Lincoln Town Car has a HORRIBLE > HORRIBLE fuel tank position in the opinion of most experts, the fuel [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I'm going to be getting my first car eventually and I want to make > sure that it has a center fuel tank, and not a rear fuel tank. *Tsk tsk* >Right now the car I drive most is my dad's 2000 Lincoln Town car, and >I just don't feel like it's a very safe car. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >I'm going to be getting my first car eventually and I want to make >sure that it has a center fuel tank, and not a rear fuel tank. All SAAB:s from the 9000 model and forward (new generation 900, 9-3 and 9-5) has the fueltank placed in front of the rear axle, same goes for the S80 i belive, but for the S80 I am not sure, other Volvo models (940/960 series) had the tank i front of the rear axle, and I don´t belive that they have changed that on newer models. /Mats > Right now the car I drive most is my dad's 2000 Lincoln Town car, and > I just don't feel like it's a very safe car. ....<cut>.... NEVER was tested in the front offset test, but if it ever was I'm sure > it would have gotten a marginal or poor rating. ....<cut>.... Not sure what the 2000 LTC could do in all that stuff; however, my son has an '88 that took on a deer in an "offset test" and all he had to replace was the headlight bezel - deer didn't make it btw....wouldn't recommend trying that in some of these later model rigs, probably wind up with the deer in your lap;) Jim It's certainly not unheard of for an older model car to do better in the the front and or front offset crash test than newer model of the same car. For example, in terms of a FRONT collision, I'd feel much safer in the beat up old 94 Town Car that just sits in the driveway and collects dust, than I would in the 2000 Town Car. Although neither car has been tested in the IIHS front offset crash test, you can compare the NHTSA front crash test and see that the 1994 Town Car does much better than the 2000 Town Car in the NHTSA front crash test. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/891.html http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/1003.html Newer cars more often than not are much safer in side impact crashes though especially when equipped with Side Airbags and have to comply with 1997 federal side reenforcement standards. I read that 52% of all fatalities in car accidents happen in side impact crashes even though side impacts make up only like 1/4th of all accidents, so I would say side impact protection is very important. > > Right now the car I drive most is my dad's 2000 Lincoln Town car, and > > I just don't feel like it's a very safe car. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Jim |
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