Gas tank placement and design is poorly engineered, promoting the opportunity for catastrophic incidents when the driver is not at fault. Death to innocent victims can occur with no collision in near ideal conditions. Specifically, the design of the gas tank and exposure to road hazards is a major safety flaw. The gas tank is plastic (not unusual today) and open to objects that can fly off the front right wheel. The front of the gas tank is openly exposed, with no protection to prevent the puncture of the gas tank, unknowing to the driver, leading to potential death. My particular incident occurred while turning left through an intersection. I heard a sudden noise, like something large was rolling around in the cargo area and banged against the side, but we had no cargo. I stopped and surveyed the car to find a piece of rebar about 2' long hanging down under the car, just in front of the right rear tire. Upon closer inspection the rebar was sticking out of the side of the gas tank, leaking gas. After evaluating what looked to be a freak incident, only 5 days after I bought this brand new car, it became apparent how poor the design was, simply from the placement of the gas tank, and it's exposure. I concluded this wasn't such a freak incident, given the open target the gas tank is to road debris. Somebody's going to die someday because of the poor design unless the manufacturer fixes this. It's simply a bad design that could easily be fixed with a piece of sheet metal to cover the open cavity under the car that makes the front side of the gas tank a perfect target for rocks, metal, parking berms, etc. I guarantee this will not be the only complaint about the open exposure to this gas tank in the Nissan Murano. I'm a pretty safe driver, and I've never had such a thing happen. The fact it happened on the 5th day of ownership tells me something. It's not just bad luck, it's a bad design from a safety point of view.

- Yorba Linda, CA, USA