New York City’s effort to increase fuel efficiency has hit a significant snag. The Ford Escape Hybrid, which many NYC taxi fleets chose to replace the venerable Crown Victoria, doesn’t react very well in a crash.
A new report by a noted automotive engineer exposes several safety hazards of hybrid taxis in New York City, including rollovers as well as other safety-related concerns.
The report found several safety hazards, many of which can be attributed to the unintended use of the Ford Escape Hybrid — a standard passenger vehicle with a three star crash rating — as a New York City taxicab. In analyzing the rollover accident, the report found:
• The side-curtain airbag did not deploy normally due to insufficient space between the partition and the top of the car.
• The L-shaped partition interfered with the 3-point unibelt because it changed the anchoring position of the belt.
• The partition did not stay in place during the crash and may have resulted in a violent head strike against the hard partition if there had been a passenger in the right front seat.
A direct result of these findings means that NYC’s mandates likely won’t be enforced next month.