<VV> Pintos and Corvairs

[Tony Underwood]

At 08:04 PM 12/30/2011, Sethracer at aol.com wrote:


>_tony.underwood at cox.net_ (mailto:tony.underwood at cox.net)   writes:
>
>There's  nothing inherently wrong with the Pinto.  And I don't wanna
>hear  anybody start in on that exploding Pinto fiasco which is bogus
>and needs  to be chalked up right beside Corvairs turning over and
>Yugos rusting in  showrooms.
>
>The problem I perceive on the Corvair wasn't anybody rolling over, and the
>problem on the Pinto wasn't an exploding gas tank. The problem - in both
>cases -  was the accountants over-ruling good engineering decisions.


Agreed.

And yes, I know about that Ford beancounter who decided that lawsuits 
were cheaper than an engineering mod.

  Only so many possible
>accidents and  fires, that would cost less than solving the possible
>tank-into-axle issue on  all those already-built Pintos.


Still, the fact remains that more people have burned to death in 
Crown Vics and Mustangs than in Pintos.   And the engineers have 
already long since determined that in order to smack a Pinto hard 
enough to pop the gas tank you have to hit it hard enough from behind 
to buckle the body which likely will kill the occupants outright via 
snapped necks.   And, in order to make sure the tank actually lights, 
test personnel had to install "sparklers" on the impacting test 
vehicles which were retired civil service Dodges weighing in at 
around 4200 lbs.    The "low speed" impacts that supposedly caused 
Pinto fires had to be at speeds of 40 mph or more, and even then most 
times there was no fire... hence the sparklers installed on the 
ramming vehicles so as to light the fuel spilled from the 
full-to-the-brim Pinto tanks which also had no gas caps installed in 
some of the tests that the "lab people" filmed.   Impacts were severe 
enough to knock the Pinto over 100 feet ahead of the impacting 
vehicle and many of the Pintos were stopped with e-brakes 
applied.   The cars buckled badly enough that the doors either flew 
open or could not be opened.   And still most times they never caught fire.

The Pinto was a target, just like the Corvair.


>The conspiracy theorists among us might say
>that the "Safety" issue has  been used by car companies to justify huge price
>increases for newer cars.


Not a conspiracy.  It's a fact.  That much has been admitted by 
insiders from the car makers here.   And let's not forget the lobbyists...



tony..