Saturday, May 04, 2019 at 00:22
Michael is correct, this setup for carrying LPG bottles on the rear of a vehicle is not legal.
It is illegal to carry fuel or gas bottles on the front or rear of vehicles, the rear of caravans, or on the drawbar of trailers - anywhere where an impact caused by collision could damage the bottles, or the fuel containers.
Any gas bottles or fuel containers carried on a vehicle/trailer/van must be secured in an ADR-compliant gas bottle holder, or fuel container holder.
Ask your local registration authority or licencing inspector about the legality of carrying gas bottles or fuel containers on the outside of a vehicle, where they can be damaged in a collision.
They will tell you straight out, the arrangement will not be passed for licencing/registration.
Fuel tanks on vehicles are designed and positioned to withstand impact. They are located between chassis rails or either in front of the rear axle, or in a protected area behind the rear axle.
Some of you may have heard of the Ford Pinto "gas tank" lawsuits, and Ford Pinto recall in the U.S. (Google Grimshaw vs Ford).
The Pinto gas tank was poorly designed and after many hundreds of serious fires, a number of fire fatalities, and one
young man suffering serious injuries, due to a Pinto gas tank rupture in a collision - which all led to over 100 lawsuits - Ford had to recall 1.5M Pintos to fix their fuel tank vulnerabilities.
Vehicle design rules and testing ensure that vehicle fuel tanks are capable of withstanding moderate impacts without rupture.
I note on another
forum from several years ago, one contributor noted that when he had previously been a
police officer, he had attended 3 car crashes where portable fuel containers or gas bottles, carried on the outside of vehicles, had ignited after impact - and the result was fatalities in all three cases.
Unfortunately, the fatalities were not in the vehicle carrying the bottles/fuel containers.
Cheers, Ron.
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