Word: pintos
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...courtroom in Winamac, Ind., last week, former Watergate Prosecutor James F. Neal was asking prospective jurors in his Tennessee drawl what cars they owned and whether they had heard of Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader. When Raymond Schramm responded that a member of his family had a 1976 Pinto, the attorney, now representing the Ford Motor Co., asked him if that might affect his judgment. "I don't think so," Schramm replied. "I used to drive a Corvair...
...civil suits involving Pinto crashes, courts have awarded damages as high as $6 million. In the criminal case now being tried, Ford may be fined a maximum of only $30,000 if it is found guilty under the two-year-old Indiana law allowing corporations to be charged with reckless homicide. No jail sentences are threatened because no individual was accused. Yet a guilty verdict could affect the 23 pending civil suits. It could also trigger a rash of criminal charges against other companies involved in product-safety disputes...
...Indiana trial grew out of a 1978 accident involving a 1973 Pinto that was hit from the rear by a van; the Pinto's gas tank burst, flames erupted, and three teen-age girls in the car burned to death. To win his case, Prosecutor Michael Cosentino must prove that 1) the fuel-tank design was extremely dangerous, 2) Ford was aware of that fact but chose not to correct the problem, and 3) the design led to the girls' deaths. The judge is expected to rule this week on the critical question of whether the purported Ford...
...because the yen fell back sharply against the dollar last year. Generally, their prices have risen by just 1% to 5% since the start of the 1979 model year, while those of U.S. cars have moved up sharply: the cost of a Chevette has climbed by 13.1%, the Ford Pinto hatchback by 15.8% and the Omni/Horizon...