Discussion Groups: Stories

Read the full story.

I think that those cars should be replaced. There seems to be a safety issue here. The dealer who sold the cars to the police department should be willing to help out in some way. Either by offering to eat the cost of installing this safety device or replacing the vehicle. If these vehicles were part of a recall, then the manufacturer should pay for these repairs. Has that been investigated?

The recall was on older Crown Vic's. The rear of the car was redesigned in 2003. It is the safest of all police vehicles rated by the NHTSA. There is over 500,000 on the road used for police use (which is in high traffic area's). You cannot make a indestructible car when it is hit at a very high speed or if its hit by a semi-truck.
Yeah, pull all the cars from the road and replace them the Impala's then see what happens when that is hit at 100mph..

Any car on the road hit like that will have the gas tank ruptured. That has always been known, this is nothing new. Buying shields is an overreaction. School buses don't have them, our cars don't have them. Some things you can't protect against. But if anyone should have them it should be the kids - not the police. What are the chances a police car will be rear ended at a high speed? Usually the police car will be behind not in front of a collision point. We don't even know yet how this girl managed to run into the back end of a police car - he must have been stopped beside the road and she veered over to hit him.

Why didn't the Police Chief use money from the law enforcement drug fund to purchase these shields? Why were General Funds used for this purchase?

Im guessing school buses don't require them is because of the height of the bus vs the height of a car. Just like semis and wreckers, both are required to have the metal bar installed in the rear to prohibit vehicles from driving under them. Why school buses do not, I guess you'd have to ask the manufacturer that, or your local school bus garage.

That and school buses are on the road for what, 3-4 hours a day, and a police vehicle is on the road for 24 hours a day? Wouldn't police cruisers have more chance of being hit than a bus?

I believe the APD office was traveling when the accident occured, not stopped. Imagine had that girl hit him at at dead stop. Not only would he be burned, but he would have been shoved into another county. What are the chances a police car will be rear ended at a high speed? My ex-husband is disabled from being hit from behind (as he finished a report and still had his overhead lights and tail lights operating) the vehicle that hit him did so at 42 miles an hour. He can never be a police officer again. So it does happen, and more than you read about.

[www.firepanel.net]


Read this article about the trunk shields and then look at the date.

Ford should be held liable for the cost of these shields in every police cruiser.