DALLAS (AP) -- The city of Dallas sued Ford Motor Co. on Thursday, seeking information about Crown Victoria police cars that officers' groups say are prone to erupt in flames when hit from behind at high speeds.
City officials want Ford to provide internal documentation regarding the vehicles' fuel system integrity, including research and data from crash testing done on police cars equipped with gas tank shields.
Ford announced in September that it would pay to retrofit police-issued Crown Victorias with the shields, but the city is investigating whether such shields are effective. Dallas officials also want information from Ford about ``bladders,'' or sacks that protect fuel from igniting.
After two weeks of talks, Ford forced the city's lawsuit by saying it would take six months to provide the requested information, City Attorney Madeleine Johnson said.
Ford says the Crown Victoria is one of the safest vehicles on the road, arguing that the problem is not with the vehicle but how it is used.
``(Police officers) are using their vehicles as shields and these vehicles are not designed to be shields, they're designed to be cars,'' Ford spokeswoman Carolyn Brown said. ``It's a scenario that spells disaster.''
Another Ford spokeswoman, Kristen Kinley, said the company has offered depositions on gas shield testing. But Ford's research on bladder technology is too minimal to be valuable, she said.
The petition filed in state court Thursday said any information obtained would be used to determine if Dallas would file a lawsuit against Ford for breach of warranty. Johnson said she may ask other cities to join in the effort.
Johnson said the city wants to know why bladders aren't installed on Crown Victorias as they are on Ford's Mustang Cobra R.
``This is about safety, it's not about a fishing expedition or trying to get money,'' she said.
A Dallas officer killed in October was among at least 12 nationwide to die in fiery Crown Victoria crashes since 1983.
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation in October did not find a defect in the Crown Victoria. The agency said the rate of fires was not much greater than with Chevrolet Caprice police cars.
In September, Ford agreed to pay to install shields around the gas tanks on police-issued Crown Victorias. Some 350,000 police cruisers across the country were to be retrofitted _ about 85 percent of police cars on the road. About 1,100 Crown Victorias in Dallas were to be fitted with the shields by the end of the year.
All new Crown Victorias are being manufactured with the shields already included.
