Ford Pinto facts
While investigating facts about Ford Pinto Case and Ford Pinto Explosion, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Ford did NOT actually base their decision about the Ford Pinto on their estimated legal costs of lawsuits. It is a myth that was given new life by Fight club.
how to set ignition timing on ford pinto?
In 1978, three Indiana teenagers were killed in when their Pinto was involved in a rear-end collision. Ford was indicted on three counts of reckless homicide. Indiana v. Ford was the first time a corporation faced criminal charges for a defective product and charged with murder.
What happened to the ford pinto?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what year was the ford pinto made. Here are 18 of the best facts about Ford Pinto Wagon and Ford Pinto Engine I managed to collect.
what year did the ford pinto come out?
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In 1971 the Ford Pinto had a defect where in rear-end collisions, the fuel filler neck could separate and puncture the fuel tank, spraying fuel into the passenger compartment and igniting. Ford knew about this and stayed silent because it cost less to let people die then to recall the car.
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Form 1969 to 1977, Ford Motor Company produced the Pinto with full knowledge of a design flaw that frequently caused the fuel tank to catch fire during rear collisions, which would have cost $11 per vehicle to fix. The tag line in radio ads was, "Pinto leaves you with that warm feeling."
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Despite the Ford Pinto's reputation as a deathtrap, it actually had accident death rates on par with competitor cars, and its risk of "fatal accidents accompanied by some fire" was average for all cars and lower than average for its class.
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The reason the Ford Pinto passed the crash test without exploding was because they used a Canadian model.
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The "car recall formula" bit from *Fight Club* was based on an actual situation where there was a known defective gas tank with the Ford Pinto
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The Ford Pinto was notorious for a defective fuel system, which led to fires and increased the chances of death. Instead of recalling the Pinto to put in an $11 part, Ford decided it'd be cheaper to settle any wrongful death suits
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Nobody wanted to buy the Ford Pinto during its launch in Brazil in the 1970s. The company then realized that "pinto" is actually portuguese slang for "small male genitalia".
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Although Ford was aware of the propensity of the Pinto to burst into flame when hit from behind, they opted not to fix it because it was cheaper to pay off the family of those that burned alive.
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Ford Motor Company knew in advance that the placement of the fuel tank in the Pinto would lead to fires and explosions but an internal cost benefit analysis revealed it was lest costly to pay for fatal incident law suits than to retool the car.
Why did the ford pinto explode?
You can easily fact check why was the ford pinto dangerous by examining the linked well-known sources.
In Brazil the Ford Pinto flopped because Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals." Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.
About Henry Smolinksi, who built a flying car by combining a Ford Pinto and Cessna, and died testing his invention. - source
Ford knew of the dangerous defects to the Pinto when test crashes revealed the rupturing of it's gas tank, but stuck with a Cost-Benefit Analysis that stated it would be cheaper to be sued a few hundred times for Wrongful Death than to replace the part necessary to fix the problem.
September 11 is the anniversary of an event that resulted in numerous American deaths in massive explosions: The introduction of the Ford Pinto. - source
When was the ford pinto made?
The famous Ford "Pinto Memo" didn't actually try to analyze or justify paying off victims of crashes instead of fixing Ford's design flaw - it only estimated the cost of similar upgrades to all cars on the road and compared it to the general cost to society of the deaths that would be avoided.
