Quote:
Originally Posted by Endless Soul
I'm here to debunk that urban legend. When I was a kid my mom had a 1971 Pinto. One day, we were rear-ended hard enough to bend the rear bumper pretty good. Remember, this was back when cars were built like tanks, not plastic bumpers and crumpling metal alloys. No Michael Bay explosions, nobody getting burned alive. Nothing happened except some bent metal on both vehicles. My mom had that car for 17 years and it was still running pretty good when she sold it in the late 80's.
Endless "Michael Bay Explosions" Soul
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Well, I'm awfully glad that you and your mother were safe. I don't think it's an "urban legend" though.. more like the story was blown out of proportion. Here's an article on it.
http://www.pointoflaw.com/articles/T...Pinto_Case.pdf
Basically, the tl;dr version is: Ford Pinto was "about" as safe/dangerous as other vehicle manufacturers at the time, because other cars had their own unique design flaws. They still deserve criticism for their specific flaw though, because it existed due to a typical safety precaution being stripped.
So, my revised statement would be: "Don't forget about all the old U.S. subcompacts? Vega, Gremlin AND Pinto?"