I don't believe that explosion junk they were always saying. To actually have an EXPLOSION , as in "BOOM!!" you gotta have just the right amount of vapor with a spark or something to ignite it.
The spark part is believeable, because in a collision, there's bound to be metal rubbing, which could cause a spark. The explosion part is the problem. Like I said, a gas tank, even FULL with 15 gallons, just won't explode. The worst that could happen is a really big flare up. That means you gotta have only FUMES in the tank.
The proof of the lack explosion comes from U.S. Coast Guard films I saw in the 70s where there were explosions of boats being refueled. They had to carefully control the vapor in the bottom of the boat (fuel vapor sinks) to get it to explode. Further science experiments in high school chem class (1980) confirmed the actual proportions and conditions.
So the next time you see a car on TV the flips over and everybody says "IT'S GONNA EXPLODE!!" You can laugh because you know it should just catch fire or flare up big at the most. Hollywood provides the BOOM!
BTW, Pintos had a V8 option with power steering??