Ford Pinto Case

PHIL 399B

The Ford Pinto:

A Design Flawed Death Trap or Misunderstood Bargain Buy

There is skepticism when it comes to buying Domestic cars over Imports. It stems from the

shocking news of recalls, their higher fuel consumption, and their lower safety and reliability ratings.

There is also a general belief held by many that American auto companies don’t have the best interest of

consumers in mind and will sell a product that’s unsafe and unreliable to turn a quick profit. If you turn

a page in history you’ll see that the 1971 Ford Pinto was at the center of these issues. The Ford Motor

Co. was ready to produce a product that burned up the competition (pun intended), a vehicle that had

an abundance of features that consumers wanted; a better appearance, comfortable seats, good gas

mileage and a low initial price to compete with imports. Ford’s answer was a 2000 pound car for $2000,

a car that became the most infamous, yet the highest selling subcompact in the U.S. history.

The Pinto was actually a second generation of subcompacts on the American market; under the

Ford Falcon and Chevrolet Corvair. The design of the Pinto was similar to many European and Japanese

subcompacts at the time. What haunts the Pinto’s design is the placement of its fuel tank, which had 9

to 10 inches crush space behind the rear axle. This wasn’t unique to the Pinto, there were other

vehicles on the market with similar placement of the fuel tank. Like the American Motors’ Gremlin

which has even less crush space than the Pinto according to Gary Schwartz author of The Myth of the

Ford Pinto Case. (Schwartz , 16) The car also lacked hat sections which are two longitudinal side

members that reinforced the vehicle making it less crush resistant. The design proved to be hazardous

under safety tests; one of which was the 20 mile barrier impact without fuel spillage. The Pinto

prototype that went into...