For those who don’t know about the Pinto:
In 1978, Ford recalled 1.5 million Pintos because the fuel tank was prone to rupturing in rear-end collisions at speeds of 20 mph or higher. This was the largest recall in automotive history at the time.
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
717 points (92.3% liked)
News
25226 readers
5955 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Top Secret (1984) made fun of Ford Pinto
As a European who knew nothing about Ford Pinto, I thought they made fun of how cars always explode in movies.
Honestly curious as to why someone downvoted this?
load more comments
(2 replies)
To be more specific, the fuel tank was placed between the rear bumper and rear differential. In a rear end collision, the tank would get sandwiched by the bumper and differential, which had bolts protruding out the back and would pierce the tank, spilling fuel onto the road.
Additionally, rear end collisions would bend the frame in a way that jammed the doors so you couldnt get out.
They figured that people would die and their cost benefit analysis assumed a certain number of deaths and lawsuits. The resulting recall and larger than expected number of deaths and lawsuits made it a huge loss for them.
Wherever I'm going, I'll be there to apply the formula. I'll keep the secret intact.
It's simple arithmetic.
It's a story problem.
If a new car built by my company leaves Chicago traveling west at 60 miles per hour, and the rear differential locks up, and the car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside, does my company initiate a recall?
You take the population of vehicles in the field (A) and multiple it by the probable rate of failure (B), then multiply the result by the average cost of an out-of-court settlement (C).
A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't initiate a recall.
If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the cars and no one gets hurt.
If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall.
Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
load more comments
(1 replies)
That's only half the story and not really the part that makes it so significant. The recall was only done after a report sent to NHTSA was released to the public detailing the cost benefit analysis that safer fuel systems was considered more expensive to society than just allowing some people to die due to less safe cars and therefore the car industry shouldn't have to meet the safety standards the NHTSA was proposing. This was a landmark moment in legal ethics and while it was pretty standard stuff in the corporate and regulatory world of the time (and today) and the dollar values assigned to human lives were based on NHTSAs own figures, not Fords it enraged enough people and a recall was done.
load more comments
(1 replies)
And the Pinto is actually cool looking.
Never forget that Chrysler did the exact same thing with the Grand Cherokee that resulted in deaths and never faced accountability.
"Top Secret " Love this movie!
Agree to disagree. I really hate this era of cars. Take a hot hatch, but make it as ugly as you can. Then make it as heavy as possible and slap an 80bhp iron block in there, that way you have the worst of both worlds in both power and fuel economy. But just for good measure, also give it a 3 speed transmission with no overdrive as one last final fuck you, just to make that the car is as slow—and gas mileage is as terrible as allowed by the laws of physics.
The 70s was by far the worst era for cars, especially American cars.
Whaaaaaaat??? 70s cars are beautiful!
Quick, someone get this person a Malibu on mags!
load more comments
(3 replies)
Early 70's was ok. 75-80? Atrocious
load more comments
(4 replies)
fucking thank you. So many people have disagreed with me over the years. its even more baby mustang than the mustang 2. Like its the third child thats not trying to act tough like the second child, or all muscle no brains like the first child.
If I could get one even in shit condition I'd want to rebuild it as an electric. I'd totally take a mustang 2 if I could get one too though.
load more comments
(1 replies)
If the fediverse wants to grow and have the half-intelligent populace take it seriously, it's going to have to start moderating sources. Not censorship. Moderation.
Too many posts I have seen here in popular 'subs' are from a website who got it's name from an Amazon product, looking to rile up the leftists with confirmation bias, turning it all into a misinformed echo chamber.
'Chklafrknozk.biz reports people already is .' Fuck off with the nonsense.
We aren't supposed to be a mirrored version of existing social media. We are meant to be a fair version of it.
Don't insult the intelligence of users. If you want the brains to follow you, stop being yet another version of the problem.
Simply tired of the garbage.
Edit: Grammar
Since I'm half-intelligent, I won't pretend to understand most what you're saying here.
I don't think the article linked is nonsense, though. It certainly isn't leftist anything, miss me with that.
But... importantly... There is a statistically correct way to complete the following sentence:
"The Tesla Cybertruck is ______ times more/less explosive than the Ford Pinto."
If you disagree with my answer to that question, what is your answer? I showed my math, I even invite the readers to re-run the equation. If you re-run it, what do you come up with? I bet your answer will be informative and helpful to the conversation about EV safety, two elements that are the "sugar," "spice," and "everything nice" about good reporting.
Um yeah I just perused the source website and agree. It's got an obvious anti-EV bias in both article sections, headlines and interpretations of data. The only author they seem to have for all their 'news articles' is a person that doesn't even have the guts to sign off with their real name, instead using the alias 'Kay Leadfoot'. They don't even have an 'about' page, just a contact form.
This is just the blog of some dude that hates EVs. Hot garbage source.
Hey, boss... If you say my name and don't knock on wood, I show up.
This place seems nice! I might post here in the future.
I do not hate EVs. Read my reviews of the Tesla Model 3, the new Dodge Charger EV, and the F-150 Lightning. If you don't like to read, the TL;DR is that I very much like each vehicle. Like many pickup truck people, I specifically do not like the Cybertruck, but that's because it's a lousy vehicle.
You should keep an open mind - just because you disagree with me, doesn't mean I have some unreasonable bias. I may have followed evidence to a different conclusion.
I do smile when Tesla fans ask me to announce my name. I already did! I'm Kay Leadfoot. You can learn more about me on my About page, which has definitely been there since Day 1. Unrelated to anything, please don't call me dude.
Hi, you took the time to respond i feel i owe you the courtesy of a reply.
Reading your website initially I could see a lot of pro gas-vehicle articles and negative EV articles, I didnt really focus on brand - not a fan of Tesla myself, and obviously the CT is a piece of crap. I'll take you at your word that you dont hate EVs but I think if you got a few people to review your site they may also walk away from a quick look through it as 'oh this is an anti-EV site'; lots of loaded language that's positive to gas cars and lots of Tesla bashing. People are not going to read every article and notice that there are a few EVs that you're very fond of before deciding if your page contains useful objective info or if it's a just another biased source.
Regarding your About page (I'm on mobile), if I click the Menu button I get a drop-down that shows an 'About us' with a little down-arrow on it -> if I click 'About us' a menu drops down showing: drop us a line / best of / search / subscribe.
I checked each of those options and couldn't find any info about the organization, or you the writer. Now you say you have an 'about page' so I go back today and I find if I click on the 'about us' drop down menu a second time, it opens a new page. Friend, congrats, you have made a secret About Us page. I have never seen this kind of design in a very long time browsing the internet.
Anyway, now that I'm here there's no credentials or references (some mention of being published on other websites - but no links to those articles), beyond saying you have driven a few hunded thousand miles - and your name is still clearly a pseodonym. Journalists generally build faith in their audience by using their real name, it's a red flag is all.
I hope that clarifies my statements, they were not arbitrary or intended to be malicious or unfair. Even negative feedback can be constructive and that's the spirit of this message.
No worries, boss. Not taken as mean or unfair.
Out of curiosity... what credential would make you trust an automotive journalist more? If it's academic paper, I'm S.O.L.
The About Us, I didn't realize folks would have a hard time finding it if it were in the header! What do I know about websites, right. But I can fix that, I'll duplicate the About Us entry into the dropdown, that should clear up any confusion.
I'm not trying to win you over, that's not really my bag... but you might find this interesting. I've had a couple folks, some with recognizable names, reach out to me through the website. The pitch is a little different each time, but they all seem to want to know my name, they share your view that it ISN'T Kay Leadfoot. I wonder why they're so interested about that? Haha, I'm sure they wouldn't publish it if I told them, they seem trustworthy... Some folks start with a more direct approach, and they just hit me with the threats from the word go, and THEN get to the "we'll see you soon" part. I wonder what those two groups would do if one knew who I was, and the other WANTED to know?
Ain't that funny? I tell jokes about cars, who cares who I am? Apparently, several folks care, some of them real ornery about it. It's less funny when you think about the actual journalists who don't have the same options... the wave after wave of threats probably has a chilling effect on their coverage, god knows what that does for a democracy in general if your press core is afraid to speak their mind and follow facts wherever they go in case some crazies come knocking.
Thanks for the feedback, by the by, it helps.
load more comments
(4 replies)
I didn't have Ford Pinto vs Cybertruck on my Battle of Vehicles bingo card.
Okay but I kinda need to know what is on that card set
If I had a nickel for every time a car company owned by a nazi sympathizer who wants to found his own exploitive company town made an infamously fiery car that you can hear rusting, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
Not saying Ford wasn't an exploitative nazi sympathizer, he was. But can't leave the Dodge brothers out of some of the blame while you're handing it out. They're the whole reason companies have to put shareholders first, after they sued Ford for trying to invest dividends back into the company and employee wages.
Ten times faster to rust out on ya too lol
No problem. steal $400 million from the taxpayers, clear the inventory - problem solved.
The cool thing is when you set records. Being the most anything is awesome.
It’s sarcasm, leave me alone.
My childhood car was a Pinto. I was very grateful it never blew up when I read about the issues many years later.
The majority of them had a recall to fix the lack of armor on the gas tank.
load more comments
(1 replies)
All caps doesn't make your post more interesting. Just annoying.
The title of the article is in all caps. I copied and pasted it into the post field.
HOW WOULD WE KNOW THAT FORD USE TO MAKE BEANS?
Who would have guessed the armored tesla trucks have armor to protect whatever is outside of the tesla
How much of that is down to the electronic door locks keeping people from escaping?
load more comments
(1 replies)
view more: next ›