Each year, thousands of people are seriously injured or killed because of motor vehicle accidents involving exploding gas tanks. Many of these injuries occur because a motor vehicle has a design defect or a defect from the manufacturing process. One common design defect involves the placement of a motor vehicle’s gas tank in a location that could lead to an explosion in a crash.

Defective Gas Tanks

Many older cars and trucks come with a side saddle gas tank or a side tank mounted outside the frame of the motor vehicle. Motor vehicles with side saddle gas tanks can be very dangerous because vehicle occupants have no protection if the gas tank explodes during a motor vehicle accident. Gas tanks of newer motor vehicles are inside their frames.

Unfortunately, the public has not been notified of all the dangerous risks associated with trucks and cars designed with side saddle gas tanks. Some car manufacturers prefer to save the money it would cost them to fix this design defect rather than stop manufacturing trucks and cars with side-saddle gas tanks. There are many examples of the design defects in cars and motor vehicles still on the road today.

Public Citizen reports that General Motors has successfully resisted a recall of 9 million C/K Pickups that had exploding gas tanks that have led to the fiery deaths of over 725 people.  By 2000, GM had settled $495 million worth of secret settlements and paid the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) $51 million to stop a 1994 investigation on the C/K’s gas tank defect that would have potentially led to a recall of the deadly vehicles.

Many people have also been killed or seriously injured because ofdefective gas tanks that were found in certain Ford Pinto models. Ford recalled about 1.5 million Pintos because a gas tank design defect made it more likely to catch fire and explode during rear-impact accidents.

Defective Gas Tanks in Police Cars

The Crown Victoria, used in many US states as police cars, has a history of fatal gas tank explosions. Many police officers have died because their police cars had defective gas tanks. The U.S. government has launched an investigation into the design defects of the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and the Crown Victoria.

Passengers and drivers of motor vehicles that are survivors of accidents involving exploding gas tanks are usually left with serious injuries, such as severe burn injuries, permanent physical and emotional scars, and disfigurement,. Do not hesitate to contact our Philadelphia auto products liability lawyers right away to discuss your gas tank explosion injury case.

The Philadelphia injury lawyers at Reiff and Bily work on a contingent fee basis, charging a small percentage of the recovery.  There are no legal fees unless there is a successful recovery.  They have had handled thousands of injury cases in Pennsylvania and have successfully recovered in excess of $150 million dollars on behalf of their clients from their opponents for physical injuries and emotional damages.

To schedule your free consultation with an experienced Reiff & Bily Philadelphia exploding gas tank attorney, call (800) 421-9595 or contact us online.