Look Honey, it's a Taxi Inferno!

So I guess a taxi "blew up" today over near Rockefeller Center. Naturally everyone freaked out; thinking it was either terrorism or another Die Hard sequel. Luckily, it was neither.

But this is what taxis do people, they blow up sometimes. Those dudes drive those cars into the ground; are u kidding me? Have you ever rode in a cab before? Imagine that x 8 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week. Those motors are dying to explode and rest in Ford heaven.

In my life so far I've seen two taxis on fire. Car fires are no joke. You have never felt heat until you've driven by a car on fire on the Gowanus at 3 o'clock the morning. It's just wild.

There's been a long running debate about the safety of the Ford Crown Vic, the full-sized, rear-wheel drive sedan popular with police departments and taxi services.


For some time now, Crown Vics have evinced an apparent design flaw that makes the fuel tank susceptible to rupture, leakage and explosion following crashes.

Beginning in 2003, Ford made a set of gas-tank shields available for police cruisers. It offered the kits to owners of Lincoln Town Car limousines in September.

In addition, the kits have been available for purchase by private owners of the Crown Vic, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis for $105 plus labour costs. Cabbies don't wanna pay to have the GPS installed, you think they're gonna pay for this? Fuck it. Roll the dice. Hey, why not?

Ford has been mired in questions about the Crown Victoria's gas-tank design since a series of police deaths. At least 18 police officers and state troopers have died in Crown Victoria Police Interceptor fires. Most of the deaths occurred when the cruisers were struck from behind at extremely high speeds.

In Oct. 2003, another New York cab driver, Mohammed Abu Yousef, was killed in a fire when his Crown Vic was rear-ended.

On 26 December 2005 cab driver Gurbaj Singh's cab was struck in the side by a minivan and burst into flames.