I don’t mind the old-people stereotyping, I’m used to it. That’s why I treat it as a joke myself.

You should see the looks I get from some younger drivers as I zip by in my G35 coupe or my wife's IS250. “Hey what’s that old man doing driving that young person’s car?” I love it.

 

Awesome!! That's a great attitude... I hope to be the same way

 

Not really. Cars explode only in the movies. In the real world they just catch on fire. Only exception might be a empty tank with just fumes, but otherwise just get out and run and you'll be fine.

Cars can be fixed so glad your OK and can move on....

 

Couldn't say it better...............nothing to sue over...period. Kids!

 

You guys ever watch 'Mythbusters' on the Discovery channel ???
They did a segment to see if a car will catch fire or explode from gunfire.
It's a complete myth. They took a beater Caddy with a full tank of gas, fired handgun, rifle and even semi-auto military rounds repeated into the gas tank. All it did was leak gas - no explosion, and more importantly no fires . . .

 

good thing you didnt drive over a ciggarette....

 

Really? Obviously you didn't watch Dateline last night. If you did you would have learned that doing so can cause a lot of pain. No. It's not cool at all.

Joking with people 'who know you' is one thing. Putting down others is another and is just rude.

BTW: I'm 67 and proud of it. A lot of people have never made it this far so I feel pretty good. And no, you didn't hurt my feelings. I work mostly with people in their early twenties and hear this stuff all day and it rolls right off me.

 

We're too young to watch dateline...

 

Once long ago when I was younger, dumber, and was sure death was not in my immediate future, I (and some friends) shot at a 1 lb propane cylinder with a .38 special, thinking it would be a really cool fireball for the Fourth of July.

It was the biggest pyrotechnic disappointment I've ever experienced. We shot it about a dozen times, always thinking we'd missed. After two full cylinders, we figured we must have hit it, so we walked up on it to find we'd hit it 11/12 times. It did not make a fireball. It lit nothing on fire. It didn't even make a sound audible over the gunshot.

As much as the movies would like us to think hydrocarbons are easily ignited by common activities - they're not. Not at all. You really need a deliberate effort to get most things to catch on fire.

 

Long ago huh, sure - I bet this happened last weekend over a couple of heinekens . . .

 

a little light reading before bedtime: http://intuitor.com/moviephysics/mpmain.html

 

Manufacturers do a lot of testing on cars before they are produced; they have to comply with government safety standards and they do crash tests. It is possible that in spite of the extensive testing, that a design defect is missed, or it is possible that there is a defect in the construction of the tank--in which case your assumption would be correct the hole in the tank should be covered by the manufacturer. But, given all of the testing, I would think that damage from minor road debris would have been discovered and corrected long before the car was ever put into production.

Based on some of the other posts, gas tank punctures do occur, even if it's never happened to you. While it could have been something minor, I doubt it. The guy probably hit something that exceeded the design specs for the tank, specs that have been subject to lots of testing. So, while you're talking possiblilities, I'm talking probabilities. Sometimes, bad s*** happens, and it's no one's fault.

 

Seriously man, give JB Weld a try. I had a friend with a Yamaha Warrior ATV that had his chain pop off and make a huge hole in his crank case. He took a piece of a Coors Light can and JB Welded it to that thing and it lasted for hundreds of hours of hard riding after that. I am a believer in JB Weld for life. It might be worth a try before spending $1,300.

 

Jerk

In all seriousness though, I just didn't want to be disrespectful, just wanted people to know it was all in good fun.

 

While I too believe JBWeld is a good product, it is not the solution. It might be good enough to get you out of a pinch, but is not a long term solution.