As detailed by MotorTrend, the Pinto’s fuel tank was located directly behind the rear axle, meaning that rear-end collisions, even at low speeds, would slam the axle into the gas tank. Axle bolts would puncture the tank and create a fuel spill that could ignite in several ways, in...
The next two years followed the idea of the "worry free" car that Ford wanted to produce. The only changes in 1972 was the Runabout received a larger rear window and a new model was introduced, the two door wagon.In 1973 the Pinto exterior remained the same as the with exception of fr...
In pre-production planning, engineers seriously considered using in the Pinto the same kind of gas tank Ford uses in the Capri. The Capri tank rides over the rear axle and differential housing. It has been so successful in over 50 crash tests that Ford used it in its Experimental Safety Ve...
Sadly, Ford stonewalled in a number of lawsuits all the way to federal court, which severely tarnished its public image, even if Pinto sales didn't seem to suffer much. What really put Pinto out to pasture after 1980 was not bad publicity but relative lack of change -- and the adve...
Because development washurried, little time was available to modify the design when crash tests revealed a serious design defect: to provide adequate trunk space, the gas tank had been located behindrather than on top or in front of the rear axle. As a result, the Pinto was highly ...
it would burst into flames within seconds. The problem was that the fuel tank was behind the axle + the filler neck on the fuel tank would rip out on impact and then would spill or spray raw gas out. Perfect for starting a fire. In 1971, for $2,000, the Pinto was an affordable ...
The 1972 Ford Pinto ascended into the Sprint family that also included Mustang and Maverick. Ford claimed a total of 60.5 cubic feet of storage space accessible through a one-piece liftgate similar in engineering to the Runabout's rear hatch. An extra-cost item for Pinto wagons were the flip...
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Pinto was bad. The average speed at which the fuel tank would split was just over 25 miles per hour. But Ford was testing the competition — including the Vegas and the Gremlins and all the cars that had the fuel tank behind the rear axle. And what they discovered was...