We now have a full year of data for the Cybertruck, and a strange preponderance of headlines about Cybertrucks exploding into flames, including several fatalities. That’s more than enough data to compare to the Ford Pinto, a car so notoriously combustible that it has become a watchword for corporate greed. Let’s start with the data […]
TL;DR: The CyberTruck is 17 times more likely to have a fire fatality than a Ford Pinto
Back in the 70s and 80s, Pintos were EVERYWHERE. It was a cool little car, I had a few over the years. I think every high school or college student at the time owned at least one.
I knew one girl, a fellow college student I dated, whose Pinto was the most rusted out vehicle I’ve ever traveled in. I was in the passenger seat, and I realized the floor was moving, and she said, “Yeah, don’t move that cookie sheet too much, that’s the floor.” I moved it anyway, and sure enough, there was a 10 inch hole rusted through the floorboards, and I could see the road passing below us.
I had another girlfriend for a long time, who played both tuba and string bass (she weighed 95 pounds), and she figured out how to fit BOTH into her Pinto at the same time. She had to put the back seats down, and the headstock from the bass had to stick out the front passenger window, but she could get them both to gigs in her little Pinto.
Interestingly, you’re right, I think. The Pinto wasn’t uniquely lethal, it was a vehicle with an obvious design flaw that horrifically killed people, but in a class of vehicle where that was weirdly common at the time.
The uncommon thing was that Lee Iacocca put things into writing like “Safety doesn’t sell” and actively de-prioritized safety, and THEN his Ford Motor Company pushed out the Ford Pinto.
But, w.r.t. the Tesla Cybertruck, the year is 2026, every single car on the road should be vastly safer than any 50-year-old subcompact deathtrap.
The Ford Pinto wasn’t that explosive. Here’s a podcast about it: https://podcastaddict.com/you-re-wrong-about/episode/174395513
The Pinto was a victim of high sales, and the US legal system that makes lawyers rich. All cars out of Detroit had similar gas tank designs.
Back in the 70s and 80s, Pintos were EVERYWHERE. It was a cool little car, I had a few over the years. I think every high school or college student at the time owned at least one.
I knew one girl, a fellow college student I dated, whose Pinto was the most rusted out vehicle I’ve ever traveled in. I was in the passenger seat, and I realized the floor was moving, and she said, “Yeah, don’t move that cookie sheet too much, that’s the floor.” I moved it anyway, and sure enough, there was a 10 inch hole rusted through the floorboards, and I could see the road passing below us.
I had another girlfriend for a long time, who played both tuba and string bass (she weighed 95 pounds), and she figured out how to fit BOTH into her Pinto at the same time. She had to put the back seats down, and the headstock from the bass had to stick out the front passenger window, but she could get them both to gigs in her little Pinto.
All 70s cars rusted after two winters. It wasn’t changed until electroplating became normal, and plastic wheel liners.
The original Pinto Madness essay is worth a read, even just as a historical primary source:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1977/09/pinto-madness/
Interestingly, you’re right, I think. The Pinto wasn’t uniquely lethal, it was a vehicle with an obvious design flaw that horrifically killed people, but in a class of vehicle where that was weirdly common at the time.
The uncommon thing was that Lee Iacocca put things into writing like “Safety doesn’t sell” and actively de-prioritized safety, and THEN his Ford Motor Company pushed out the Ford Pinto.
But, w.r.t. the Tesla Cybertruck, the year is 2026, every single car on the road should be vastly safer than any 50-year-old subcompact deathtrap.