Gas Tank

[knitgirl]

Can anyone help me?? I reserved my fortwo today and my 4 yr old will be riding with me. I realized that the gas tank is right behind his seat and it just is bugging me. Can anyone tell me anything that can make me feel better about this? I mean is in encased in some sort of cell or something. I mean this thing is suppose to be built from a race car standard, right?
I just want to know if I'm making a stupid decision. This is my second car to a Tahoe to save on gas when it's just he and I running around.

[SunDiego]

You will be fine and very safe in your smart. It is engineered by Mercedes-Benz and has the Tridion Safety Cell too. I don't even think the gas tank is right behind the seats, if you open the engine cover there just some padding and stuff on that angled part behind the seats. I might be wrong but I'm not 100% sure.

[knitgirl]

Originally Posted by SunDiego

You will be fine and very safe in your smart. It is engineered by Mercedes-Benz and has the Tridion Safety Cell too. I don't even think the gas tank is right behind the seats, if you open the engine cover there just some padding and stuff on that angled part behind the seats. I might be wrong but I'm not 100% sure.

thank you so much....I don't want to be in love with something that could be dangerous for my baby

[SuperGeek]

When you think about almost any other car, the gas tank is right behind the rear seat where kids sit anyway. The gas tank is reinforced to industry standards, placed strategically to avoid a puncture, and if I'm correct, separated by a thick firewall between it and the passenger compartment. The industry learned from the Ford Pinto. You should be safe.

Add to that, the Tridion cell gives a solid structure that distributes forces in a collision. From almost any angle, that cell will remain its original shape. I've seen pictures of smarts flipped, tossed, rolled, sandwiched, but never flattened... the steel egg is pretty darned strong. There's a video on Youtube somewhere showing a crazy SOB that stacked two smarts on top of each other and drove a double decker.

[Smartfor2guy]

Originally Posted by SunDiego

You will be fine and very safe in your smart. It is engineered by Mercedes-Benz and has the Tridion Safety Cell too. I don't even think the gas tank is right behind the seats, if you open the engine cover there just some padding and stuff on that angled part behind the seats. I might be wrong but I'm not 100% sure.

The gas tank is located just below the seats, but i wouldnt worry about it

[johnssc]

Typically, just about any car has the gas tank located over the rear axle (or between the rear wheels below the back seat on cars with IRS).

In rear-end collisions, the tank is designed to break away and move up/forward rather than be crushed/punctured.

[Old smart]

Gas tank information can be found here: https://aftersales.i.daimler.com/ser...2007_en_72.pdf

See pages 146, 149, 150.
"Location of fuel tank:
The fuel tank is located in the area in front of the rear
axle on the smart model series.
The fuel lines run in protected areas and are made of
plastic. In the engine compartment they are routed so
that in the event of a deformation of the body structure
as a consequence of a frontal or rear-end collision,
the fuel lines cannot normally be ripped off.
The fuel pump is automatically switched off if the
airbags are activated or if the engine switches off."

[rawlus®]

driver and passenger are pretty much sitting on top of the gas tank. not that there's anything to worry about regardless.

[Rmichael1]

It's my understanding that the car is built to protect the passengers in a crash (of course) such as the engine breaks away and goes underneath the passengers as well as the impact of the crash is displaced around the car so the passengers don't take all the impact energy. Side crashes, you're up higher and the wheels are closer together than most cars thus protecting you. I don't think any car or their riders are going to survive a head on with a semi truck but you're pretty safe in a smart. My kids ride occasionally and they are 3, 4, 8, and 11. There are some good videos on safety crashes that you could search for.

[partsrme928]

Thanks! I was wondering where that sucker was.