Federal Probe of GM Pickup Trucks Grows : Safety: Agency orders an engineering analysis of vehicles with their fuel tanks placed outside the frame rails.
The government expanded its investigation Tuesday into charges that some General Motors pickup trucks are susceptible to fires in side-impact crashes because of their fuel tank location.
“The agency has been involved in a complicated review of a great deal of information on this issue during the past four months, and there is no question further investigation is needed to determine whether these trucks contain a safety-related defect,” said Marion Blakey, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Blakey said the action does not mean the agency has concluded that a safety-related defect exists.
A recall could cost General Motors Corp. about $1 billion.
The probe began Aug. 14 with a petition by the Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen, two consumer groups that asked the government to recall the vehicles.
In question are 1973-87 Chevrolet and GMC C/K series full-sized pickup trucks.
About 8.8 million of the vehicles were sold, and about 4.7 million are still on the road.
The trucks were made with “side-saddle” tanks mounted outside the frame rails. The consumer groups say that position makes the vehicles more vulnerable to fires and explosions in side-impact crashes.
The center claims at least 300 people have died in fires and explosions resulting from such crashes.
GM insists the vehicles are safe and surpassed government regulations for fuel system reliability.
The auto maker said in a statement: “We trust and believe the agency will conclude--as any fair reviewer would--that there is no basis upon which to conclude that these vehicles contain a safety-related defect.”
Debra Barclay, a spokeswoman for the Center for Auto Safety, called on GM to voluntarily recall the trucks.
“The longer we wait to get a recall, the more innocent victims are going to be burned and possibly killed from this defect,” Barclay said. “There is still not a recall. We still have these firebombs on the road.”
Tuesday’s action by NHTSA upgrades the probe from a preliminary evaluation, during which NHTSA and the manufacturer exchange paperwork, to an engineering analysis. In that stage, government engineers study the alleged defect.
Blakey said data from accidents and crash tests as well as the question of how the truck is designed will be reviewed.
The Washington-based consumer group Public Citizen has said that a reasonable solution to the problem would be to install fuel tank bladders in the GM trucks, which would contain the fuel in the event of a side-impact crash.
