Word: rear-end
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...Ford cars will have important design changes to correct past problems. To avoid the fires that were sometimes caused in rear-end collisions in the Pinto, the new cars' gas tanks are placed in front of, rather than behind, the rear axle. In addition, the automatic transmissions have a pronounced barrier between park and reverse to prevent slippage between the two gears. Last week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was still considering whether to force Ford to recall some 16 million vehicles because of that problem in earlier cars...
...less obviously illegal--but often more harmful--acts result from unclear and unenforced regulation. Companies usually explain "chemical crime," the deliberate proliferation of toxic wastes and other chemicals into the environment, by pleading ignorance of the consequence of their actions. Ford Motor Company knew that Pintos often exploded on rear-end impact; Firestone failed to disclose evidence that its Radial 500 tires tended to belt-edge separation at high speeds; for 40 years manufacturers suppressed information suggesting that asbestos could cause cancer. Harsher sanctions are necessary to eliminate corporate abuses...
...trial, Prosecutor Michael Cosentino set out to prove that Ford knew the gas tanks of the early Pintos were likely to rupture in rear-end crashes, but after a cost-benefit analysis, had decided against installing a $6.65 part that would have helped protect the tanks. Cosentino maintained that Ford then did not try hard enough to warn Pinto owners about the danger. He produced eyewitnesses who testified that the girls' Pinto had been moving at 15 to 35 m.p.h. when struck, meaning that the impact speed was equal to no more than 35 m.p.h. At that speed, Cosentino...
Ford has been hit with more than 50 civil lawsuits charging negligence in placing the Pinto's gas tank far in the back of the car, where it is vulnerable to rear-end collision damage. In June 1978, Ford announced the recall of 1.5 million Pintos built between 1971 and 1976 to remedy this defect, which does not exist in later models. But the Indiana case is the first in which Ford-or any automaker-has been charged with a criminal offense...
...company must offset the thirst of its big models with increased production of little cars. But sales of its mainstay in that field, the Pinto, dropped after the disclosure in July that Pintos of '71 through '76 model-years have fuel tanks that have ruptured in rear-end crashes. So Ford redesigned the tank and is pushing Pinto sales hard. In July, the company began an incentive plan that pays dealers up to $325 for each '78 Pinto sold...