Batboard

I've seen some crazy ass stuff come from the factory. But this tops it. Ford now offers a factory installed fire supression system for their police interceptors. It will automaticly discharge after a crash, or there is a big red button up from you can mash and manually activate it.

http://www.nmvfc.org/fordfire.pdf

and i live in this fine state.......wonderful. what the hell do the cops need that for anyways? i have never come up on scene of a fully envolved cop car. If they keep putting this crap in the cars theres not going to be any more room for the radios.

Firegood,

You may not be aware that the Ford Crown Vic has the reputation,
deserved or undeserved, of being a car whose gas tank tends to "let
go" in a rear end collision. Ford has previously made and installed many
passive tank protection systems for the car and this appears to be the
latest thinking in safety. I suppose it's a great idea if, 1. your car is an
old design with an exposed (so to speak) gas tank and, 2. you have
the money to buy whatever you want regardless of the price.

These systems work great in race cars and airliners and have proven their value in those applications many times, but I have to question the cost/ benefit ratio of installing the systems. If, for example, there have been two Crown Vic rear end fires in the past three years, and no one has been injured as a result of the fires, then one might question the worth of the project that is going to add several
thousand dollars to the cost of each new P71 the state purchases.

I can see the practical uses in a funnycar or jet liner, but a crown vic....I was not aware of the gas tank problem, however isent that only putting on a band aid. Shoulden they just fix the gas tank problem?

This may be one of many reasons, granted this wasn't a Crown Vic:

"November 21, 1976

A much decorated veteran of the State Police, Trooper Mahoney was sworn in on December 12th, 1959, a member of the 42nd Recruit Training Troop. He had spent 12 of his 17 year career assigned to Troop E, the Weston Barracks on the Massachusetts Turnpike. On April 13th, 1973, while patrolling the turnpike in Southborough,. Trooper Mahoney came upon a burning car that had overturned in the median. He attempted unsuccessfully to rescue the trapped occupant and in the attempt burned his hands and face. Eye witnesses to the event lauded the heroism of Trooper Mahoney and he was awarded the State Police Medal of Merit for his heroism. He was later named Trooper of the Year and received other citizen awards for his attempts.

Three short years later, on November 21st, 1976, Trooper Mahoney conducted a motor vehicle stop EB on Rte. 90, the Mass. Turnpike at approximately 1155 hours. As he was sitting in his cruiser writing a motor vehicle violation, a tractor trailer unit slammed into the rear of the cruiser. The cruiser fuel tank exploded upon impact, trapping Trooper Mahoney inside the car, burning him to death."

I have tried one of these systems before during a training excercise. Most armored limos/SUVs have this as a standard option as occupants might not be able or shouldn't leave a vehicle until it is safe to do so.

In simulated fires underneath the vehicle or engine compartment fires, it works like a charm. However, I don't want to know how much the mentioned "refill" would be.

Not sure tho if the benefits would outweigh the costs in a highway patrol car.

Can anyone else this happening... "Hey, I wonder what this red button does?"

lol, like MIB. I think it is cool that you can either slam the plastic case or open it and push the button.

definately not an option to have on any fleet vehicles around me... I'd be the first to 'accidentally' trip one

nmfire10 wrote:Can anyone else this happening... "Hey, I wonder what this red button does?"

Like the guy in white coat in VW ads "unpimping the autos".
Whelen Factory in Chester CT has a few of those Vics with Fire Suppresion Systems in them.Interesting thing to have to work around.
I wonder if there are reports of any accidental activations yet by the operators in them.
Vot duz dees do?

What are these systems using for an extinguishing agent? Halon is probably the best, but it's a chlorinated fluorohydrocarbon, so production has been seriously curtailed by federal and international regulations. You can still get halon, but the cost for refilling these systems is going to continue to go up.

Newer race car fire systems are using an aqueous foam (AFFF) solution that is discharged using nitrogen or carbon dioxide under pressure. A little sloppy to clean up, but supposedly better for the environment. AFFF works great on standing pools of fuel. As long as the foam can cover the fuel, it stops the fire. But I think if I was sitting in a combustible car interior, I'd want halon to keep the possibly gasoline-soaked interior materials from igniting.

If there's a good-sized race car shop in your town, check with them about racing fire systems and what it takes to refill them.

Bob...

I found a few municipal purchasing sites that show the selling
price for the fire suppression system to be around $2,100. Now
if we could find out if it uses Halon or AFFF we'd have the complete,
or nearly complete, story on the subject.

BTW, the sites on which I found this pricing were the ones where
the dealers don't make much if anything on the sale, so the actual
price (if they'd sell it to you) on a civilian CV might well be higher.