All you need to know about the Ford Pinto: It was a compact car. It was introduced for 1970. It had an identical twin - the Mercury Bobcat. It was a best seller. Or, at least, that’s what Ford wants you to think. It actually enjoyed burning people alive. Don’t believe us? Read on.
Is the Ford Pinto the most infamous car in history?
Lets set the tone. Ford desperately needed an economical, compact car to compete with invading imports from Japan and Europe. Ford executive Lee Lacocca brought the idea of an inexpensive, small, light car costing less than $2000 to the table. To keep the car light, everything was scaled down with an inline-four engine under the bonnet. It appeared to be the perfect answer to an economic climate pushing wages down and fuel prices up. The Ford Pinto finally arrives for September 11, 1970.
Lets set the scene two years later. A factory fresh Ford Pinto suffers engine problems and stalls in traffic. A fellow motorist travelling at 28mph hits the Pinto from behind and watches in horror as the Pinto is engulfed in a fireball, burning the driver, one Lily Gray, to death and permanently disfiguring her 13-year-old passenger, Richard Grimshaw. In true American fashion, this accident resulted in a lawsuit - with Grimshaw suing Ford for crafting dangerous cars within their factory premises.
The danger could be found with the fuel tank, positioned between the rear bumper and the rear axle, which in the event of a shunt could separate the filler neck from the tank and spray fuel up the underside of the car. In the nastiest of circumstances this would lead to horrendous infernos where inhabitants jammed in the cabin had hot death to look forward to. A further issue with the rear end design found protruding bolts from the differential puncturing the fuel tank - leaving you with rather poor fuel consumption into the bargain.
Ford responded to the Grimshaw lawsuit claiming that the Pinto was as safe and robust as any other car on the road at that time. However, Grimshaw’s law team managed to obtain information gathered from rear-end collision tests on the Pinto, carried out by Ford itself in 1970, well after the first Pinto had left the production line. These results documented that out of 11 collision tests, eight vehicles impersonated a blast furnace - catching fire to a spectacular degree. Just to make things interesting, the three that didn’t go up in flames had safety devices installed.
It wasn’t until journalist Mark Dowie started researching the subject that he discovered Ford’s Cost-Benefits analysis of the Pinto’s defect - basically, human life wasn’t worth spending money on. Fitting extra safety features would set the Ford Motor Company back the sum total of $137 million. A large sum of money by any account, but Ford bigwigs opted for a different route. They were more than happy to continue churning out the Pinto unchanged, as litigation from victims were estimated to cost less than $49.5 million. They even went ahead and predicted that 180 people would perish in Pinto fires.
Ford didn’t therefore install any safety features on their Pinto and, by September of 1977, flaming Pintos were killing estimates of seventy people each year. To spice things up further, it was discovered that Ford lobbied to delay a Federal Bill of 1970 enforcing compulsory safety standards around the rear of vehicles. It finally became law in 1978, just as Pintos were recalled for refit. Richard Grimshaw was finally awarded $125 million in damages - although, strangely, this was reduced to $3.5 million.
Did Ford really fix the problem? Installing a deeper filler neck and a protective shield did appear to reduce fatalities - but the Pinto will be forever known as the car equivalent to a serial killer. The ‘Devils-Hatchback’ is the confirmed cause of at least 27 deaths in America.
This is a shame, really, as the entire fiasco overshadows the little Pinto’s merits. It was surprisingly spacious, it could achieve reasonable fuel economy and, considering its basis, wasn’t all too horrific to gaze over. Yet, movie moments such as this help cement the Pinto firmly in place as a health hazard.
Should you buy a Pinto? Well, seeing as they are rarer than hen’s teeth in Britain, why not go for a Ford Fiesta? Besides the tendency to cook you alive, they are remarkably similar.