The engineering failure (as told to me by a college case study) was that there were exposed bolts directly in front of the gas tank, so a collision would almost always lead to a puncture, especially in a rear-end collision.
The fix was a 2-ounce, $2 piece of square plastic - it would cover the bolts, providing a flat face for the gas tank to impact the support beam. But Ford's leadership (Iacocca?) were too sold on the "sub-2000 pound car" and didn't allow this plastic piece, along with a ton of other features that were removed from the design.
The fix was a 2-ounce, $2 piece of square plastic - it would cover the bolts, providing a flat face for the gas tank to impact the support beam. But Ford's leadership (Iacocca?) were too sold on the "sub-2000 pound car" and didn't allow this plastic piece, along with a ton of other features that were removed from the design.