<VV> Corvair vs Pinto

[tony..]

On 10/25/2021 8:28 AM, N2VZD TIM via VirtualVairs wrote:
> All I remember firsthand about Pinto was the gas tank situation . If that car was lightly tapped , it could become a fireball. They came out with a heavy plastic shield kit that protected the tank from sharp body parts . There were lots of horror stories regarding this car.
> https://www.tortmuseum.org/ford-pinto/
> Regards , Tim Colson C N Y C C


This is one of my pet peeves... reminded me of how these same sorts of 
people went after the Corvair using bogus test conditions like the test 
where they managed to roll a Corvair onto its roof, but only by removing 
the shocks to allow the rear wheels to tuck under much farther than they 
would ever have done otherwise.


The Pinto thing was actually a bit more of a fiasco than the Corvair 
stuff.  And THAT is saying something.


  Of the tests performed with the co-called "low speed" crash testings, 
initially none of the Pintos would catch fire.  They increased the 
speeds, using retired Dodge Seneca public service sedans weighing in at 
well over 4000 lbs.  Still no flameups.  The Pintos were filled to the 
brim with fuel to allow splashing out the filler which had the cap 
removed, still nicht feur.

They managed to insure (mostly) the Pintos would catch fire by impacting 
them at ~40 mph by having the Pinto tanks filled, caps off, and burning 
sparklers attached to the front of the Dodges to light any spilled 
fuel.  Interestingly enough, even in these conditions the Pintos would 
often not catch fire.  I have photos of various test subjects with 
impact damage so severe the cars' doors couldn't be opened.  Roofs 
buckled.  Unibody distorted. Differentials crammed up against the back 
seat.  Still didn't catch fire.  Some of course did flame up but the hit 
from behind needed to be severe to make it happen.


Agreed, some situations involved Pintos in rear end collisions in the 
real world did catch fire and there were fatalities... but here's the 
rub.  Many investigations of the accidents involving fires also included 
commentary that the deceased occupants were likely to have died in the 
initial crash trauma and the fire was not directly responsible for the 
deaths.  In other words, in the real world you had to smack the hell out 
of a Pinto in order to make it burn.  These commentaries seldom ever saw 
light of day... just any/all of the fatalities in Pintos that had an 
instance of fire.


Now, that said:  Ford did weigh the differences in a "noticed potential 
safety problem" involving vulnerability of fuel tanks being cut by sharp 
corners on the differentials and other suspension components and did 
nothing about it, but that in itself was enough for the SJWs to launch 
in on attacks against the Pinto.   The fix?   A piece of plastic to 
cover the front of the tank...

The NHTSA evidently reviewed Pinto accidents involving fatalities where 
fire was a factor.  Their findings:  Fewer than 30 people died in fires 
in Pintos resulting from rear end crash impacts where actual fires 
resulted in the fatalities and NOT impact trauma.

The Panther platform cars (Crown Vics , Town Cars, and Merc Marquis) at 
last count had Three Times as many fatalities from fires resulting from 
rear impacts.  More people died in flaming first generation Mustangs 
than in Pintos.  Those cars had "drop-in" fuel tanks in the trunk that 
would burst and splash gasoline into the vehicles' passenger 
compartments in harder rear impacts, seeing as how there was no rear 
firewall (pun intentional) to contain fuel from burst tanks.  Nobody 
ever talks about the 109 people (at last count some years or so ago) who 
burned to death in the Panther platform Fords.  There Was a news story 
recently regarding a lawsuit against Ford (not sure how far That was 
gonna go) following a rear impact in a restored first generation Mustang 
at an intersection resulting in death by fire.


Seems a lot of modern era SJWs can get carried away while looking for a 
cause to champion... remember the Chrysler minivan rear hatch "hazard" 
tests?  Minivan was impacted in a "low speed crash" which often would 
tear off the entire hatch frame (with hatch still in place) sending the 
vehicle spinning like a top off the road and into the weeds spewing 
children-size manikins out the back.  Test minivans had no seats 
installed, manikins not secured in any fashion.  The impacting 
"vehicles" were concrete blocks the size of a car on a cart.  The 
impacts would demolish the minivan. Yet the safety wonks everywhere 
accepted these skewed tests as bona fide when, like the Pinto tests, 
most tests did nothing until the conditions were made more and more 
severe until finally they did get results they could use.

Likewise the GMC pickup truck tests that NBC's Dateline produced, that 
were supposed to explode in a fireball in side impacts... they had to 
rig the tests to get anything to happen at all, afterwards claiming the 
truck burned to a crisp.  GM actually took exception to this crap, went 
searching the junkyards and recovered the truck (which was still 
roadworthy) and displayed it on a stage in a rebuttal for Dateline's 
faked "expose'..." which eventually gleaned an apology from NBC which 
aired once, lasted about 15 seconds.


In short (yeah I know, nothing about this was short) I pay NO attention 
to any 3rd party crash tests of any vehicles because it's impossible to 
trust the vast majority of them to be honest.


Yeah I had a Pinto back when, drove it a long time, good car, never any 
problems.  Old girlfriend had a Pinto hatchback, occasionally turned it 
up, it also served long and capably. Eventually traded the Pinto I had 
to a guy who had a '63 Monza beater he had no respect for... drove That 
car for a long time while I was putting my first '63 Spyder back 
together, traded the beater Monza to another guy who drove it while his 
'64 Monza was going through restoration.  (Required Corvair content)  
After that, I lost track of the beater Monza...


  tony..


PS:  remember who founded the tort museum



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