Pickup-Truck Fuel-Tank Design Hit -- GM Covers Up Danger Of Explosions, Safety Group Charges

WASHINGTON - When a drunken driver crossed a freeway median and sideswiped Frank Zelenuk's Chevrolet pickup in June 1989, Zelenuk was unhurt - until the truck burst into flames because of a punctured fuel tank, his Texas attorneys say.

Zelenuk, 61, died in the fire. Now the Texan's demise is at the heart of a legal dispute that could lay General Motors Corp. open to charges that it knew hundreds of thousands of its popular Chevy and GMC full-size pickups were vulnerable to fires similar to the one that killed Zelenuk.

"It's important because hundreds of thousands of GM pickup owners are riding at risk of their lives," charged Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington consumer group.

COVER-UP CHARGED

"It's also important because GM has covered up this defect for so many years with protective orders in lawsuits," Ditlow said. "The federal government has had the wool pulled over its eyes."

Ditlow's group, claiming the design of the trucks' fuel tanks is defective, has asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to recall Chevy and GMC pickup trucks from model years 1973-87.

An NHTSA spokesman said the petition would be reviewed, but declined to comment further.

A GM spokesman said the trucks meet or exceed federal safety standards.

The automaker is trying to persuade a Fort Worth, Texas, judge not to make public GM documents produced in a lawsuit stemming from

Zelenuk's death.

Public Citizen, a Washington consumer group that frequently works with the Center for Auto Safety, wants the judge to unseal the documents.

"The documents may help us determine how extensive a problem this is," said Tom Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office.

At issue is the way fuel tanks are mounted on 1973-87 full-size pickups. In the so-called "side-saddle" design, dual tanks beneath the cab lie outside the truck's frame rails, so they are unprotected in a crash, the Center for Auto Safety's Ditlow said. A ruptured tank can leak gasoline and cause explosions and fires, he said.

Ronald Elwell, a former GM engineer, testified in a Georgia case in 1991 that GM was aware the tanks were a potential safety hazard as early as 1983. He said GM performed 22 crash tests in which trucks with "side-saddle" tanks were struck from the side at 50 mph.

GM DENIES ALLEGATIONS

Federal standards require vehicles to be tested at 20 mph in side crashes.

Some of the tanks opened "like a split melon," Elwell testified. Asked if the tank was defective, Elwell said, "It was not equal to (competitors') vehicles of its era. And if that's a definition of defectiveness, that's something that you attorneys have to argue about."

GM has denied Elwell's allegations in a separate lawsuit Elwell filed over his departure from the company.

GM changed the side-saddle design for the 1988 model year so that the fuel tank was fully inside the frame rails.

Hundreds of thousands of the earlier models remain on the road.

The legal skirmish over the GM documents arose after GM in February settled a lawsuit filed by Zelenuk's wife, Helen, and his four children. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As part of the settlement, the family agreed to return documents the automaker showed the family's attorneys.

Public Citizen is seeking the GM documents under a 2-year-old Texas rule that permits courts to lift orders protecting information that has an impact on public health and safety.