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Show UTAH M4 Monday, July 28, 2003 Safety and the Salt Lake County riffs Office. Fleet managers n both agencies say they have Police car involvedin officers’ deaths etrofitted nearly lent of the Intel Pentium IL It had 25 more horsepower he Model A four-cylinder all of their 5 more horsepower than vrolet’s best engine, and ider CrownVics with the plasfuel bladders in the state's ase, approximately300 vehi. Jes. And, so far, they have expe rienced no problems. Missouri wasn't so lucky El even days beforeFord sent its er to Dallas, Missouri High: whiletheuseof the V-8 was not tic Continuedfrom Al new, Sanow writes, “a V-8 at Ford prices was an automotive milestone. Ford also wasthe first to de- velop a special “police package,” acarwith a heavier suspension, better brakes andotherelements designedto hold up under way Patrol officer Michael New: ton burnedto death in his 2008 Crown Victoria. His car hadall the new safety features. be rammed fr speeds. But, safety watchd Uy peoplehave beer Crown Victoria Police Ford dominates market: Police into, xin pursuit policies, making the ability to top 120 mpiless im- in the 1950s and1960s, when the state contracts such asthe Cali: Witte becamea trooper, the them. But in carracing, thereis fornia Highway Patrol (CHP). In CrownVic had nocompetition. Fordsedans weretoo light and Fordestimates Crown Vics. They likeits price, speed, large back seat and roomy trunk, andit doesn’t kick uprocksin the medianlike pended all new front-wheel drives tend to do. purchasesof the popular polic car. The union for State Troopers hasurged its m 5 not to stopon highways for non But law enforcement’s love affair with Fordis as old as Ford itself. In his book Ford Police Cc emergencies, including routine ickets. And the nation’s ator ys general have launche Ai, Harr ann/The Salt Lake Tribune nvestigation Witte’s July 18, 1998, collision was his second high-speed, rear end car accident in six m nonths. The industry average is one se rious accident every 20 years If he is thinking about any of this as he changesthe flat tire he doesn’t let on. In the crush zone: Unless you weara police uniform, drive a taxicab, or belong to AARP, you probably don’t know much about the Crown Vic. And un. less you live in one of the 11 Jason Schechterle, a Phoenix officer who was severely burned when his Crown Victoria police car was hit, says Ford must makethe car safer. true of other Fords built on the Panther” platform, suchas the Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car, thevehicle used to shuttle Gov. Mike Leavitt Unlike othercars, high speed rear-end crashes pushthe fuel Utah is you probably againstthe rear axleor suspen. sion system, whichcan causeit to ruptureand catch fire. Ford tional HighwayTransportation Safety Association. The NHTSA don’t know much about the closed its investigation into Crown Vic controversy ‘The problem is oneofposi tion Crown Vics in Octobe 02 after determiningthe vehicles The Crown Vic, first built in 1979, is the only full-size, rearwheel drive police car on the market. It also is the only car after being hit from behind at 30 mph, the federal standard. Ford tested the cars at 50 mph with certified for police pursuit that still has its gas tank located be hind the rear axle in the socalled crush zone. This is also sharpobjects frompuncturing the tanks. “Aslongasdrivers continue to strikestationarypolicevehi cles at such high speeds, there will be fuel leaks, and in some instances, fi ‘ordsafety en Susan Cischkewrotein a Jeaked minimal amount of fuel portant. By1997, the year Christopher 1932-1997 Indianalawof- them,too. Then camethe fuel crunchof the 1970s, forcing many manu facturers to makesmaller cars with better gas mileage and reietyof faster, full ement. In 1981, Sz , “overall police car per- ficer andpolice-car buff Edwin formance was so bleak that no Sanow traces Ford's police police carof any kindreached 120 mph.” Onceagain, it was Fordto the record in tenderdetail. There's even a pop quiz at the end. Q: What year wastheflat rescue.In 1982, the automaker head, L-head V-8 introduced? unleashed the CHP Mustang, or, as Sanowcallsit, “the Fordthat chased Porschesforalivin, ‘The Mustang,loadedwith po- A: 1932 on the 221-ci V-8. knowingits enginesizeis nosil lier than knowing whatkindof Reason to worry? Witte, 31, is aslightly taller version ofof- ficer Jim Reed from “Adam12.” Heis marriedandlives in Lay- ton. Heis assigned to the Wa. satch Front’s 18member DUI squad. Histypical day starts around 5:30 p.m, and ends at 3:30 a.m., when, according to the Centerfor Auto Safety, the ma jority offatal crashes involving patrol cars occur. Hecalls drunken drivers “customers,”andtheir cars '2,300-pound killing machines.” Yet whenit comesto his own safety andcomfort, he is more matter-of-fact. “Of alltheofficerskilledin thelineofduty, the majoritydieintraffic acci- lice equipment, couldgo from dents,” hesays. “Youfigure you processor your computer has. zero to60 in 8.35 seconds,fast at And in the automotive world, that time, and would hit a top speedof just over 126 mph, and makeeight, nine, 10 stops a day, andbeing paranoidthat many the flathead V-8 was the equiva- See NEXT PAGE letter to the Dallas city at- tank of the full-size Fords hasdenied thecars are defective, a claim backed by the Na- states where anofficer was killed ina fiery crash the squad-car market. Andy Griffith and Barney Fifeliked that 85per- cent of all police agencies use sue F or major ‘ord owned70percentof competition. ies in Dallas, Chicago not one of them Mustang disappeared when many jurisdictions adopted non Plymouth, writes Sanow, even too narrow to qual threedozen police dep along withcrash victims and have su: dans in 1989, and Chevy dumped the Caprice after 1996. As Sanow notes, even the police package ers. Their carsaretheir liveli hoods. They takepictures of themand devote Websites to The deaths have Phoenix Dodge and Plymouth discon. tinued their four-door police se- officers are like NASCAR driv 1978. their families, to “The Mustang stopped a pursuit beforeit happened,” Witte says. It also forced automakers to. beef up their full-size cars or get outof the market. r ed in Intercep tors than in the f car known for it tank and that w extremeabuse. ‘These innovations helped keepFord aheadof Chevyand Utah patrol officers recall with fondness the way suspects would take one lookat the longnosed car and pull over. “While our sympathies go out to thoseinvolvedin these torney tragic accidents, neither Ford norany other auto manufac. turer caneliminatetherisk of s in high-speed acci. fuel dents.” “rd’s response appears to havesatisfied most ofthe coun try’s 18,000-plus law enforcement agencies, including the Utah Department of Public the same results. Still, Ford agreedto retrofit older models with plastic gas: tank shields, and developed an optional trunk liner to prevent DONATE THAT CAR! 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