Rear Body Construction of Sub-Compacts and Fuel System Integrity in Rear End Collisions

According to the investigation and analysis of rear moving barrier collision experiments with sub-compacts which were of front-engine, rear drive, and unitary construction, and which had two different types of conventional fuel tank arrangements (either in the luggage compartment or under the rear floor panel behind the rear axle), it was confirmed that further improvement in fuel system integrity could be achieved by controlling rear body crashworthiness corresponding to each fuel tank arrangement. Especially with the second type of arrangement, crash energy must be absorbed by body deformation both in front of and behind the tank, while at the same time deformation of the rear floor surrounding the tank and the tank itself must be prevented.