Michael Chhabra On the Ford Pinto Tort Case

Beyond just providing restitution for victims, tort cases have served to help expose unsafe products and business practices. It provides protection for American citizens from companies that would put them at risk and ensures that they receive the compensation they deserve in the event of a problem.

One of the most famous cases of tort law making a difference is with the infamous Ford Pinto. Released in 1971, this subcompact car was defective to the point of bursting into flames if the gas tank was ruptured during a collision. Numerous incidents involving the Pinto led to lawsuits exposing negligence on the part of the Ford Motor Company.

The most well-known case regarding the Pinto was Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Company in 1981. After Lilly Gray was killed when her Pinto exploded, with passenger Richard Grimshaw suffering from extensive burn injuries, their families filed a tort action against Ford. Gray’s car was rear-ended after it stalled on a California freeway, damaging the fuel tank and releasing gasoline vapors that spread throughout the car, detonating with a spark.

In the ensuing litigation, the jury awarded over $3 million to the plaintiffs for their injuries, as well as demanding millions more in punitive damages from Ford. When Ford tried to reduce the amount it was forced to pay, further investigation revealed widespread issues with the Pinto that Ford had known about and not rectified.

The glaring issues with the Pinto came about as a result of Ford’s negligence and refusal to budge from their goals for the car-namely, to ensure that every vehicle cost less than $2,000 and weighed under 2000 pounds. These strict requirements were born out of the company’s need to compete against Volkswagon and Japanese imports as they tried to produce a cheap subcompact car.

Production was troubled from the beginning. From a turnaround of 25 months (the normal span being around 43 at the time) to an unwillingness to invest in better safeguards, the Pinto seemed doomed to fail. Internal documents revealed that the Pinto’s fuel tank ruptured at every crash test over 25 miles per hour. Though the means to fix this problem existed, Ford refused to go forward with them. Lee Iacocca’s motto as President of Ford was ‘Safety doesn’t sell.’ The company’s cost-benefit analyses determined that it would be cheaper for them to settle court cases related to the Pinto than to actually fix the problem.

However, the company’s cavalier attitude toward safety backfired in the long run as dozens of more lawsuits were filed against them. Between 500 to 900 burn deaths were associated with the Pinto in situations where motorists would not have been killed or seriously injured otherwise. Ultimately, Ford recalled 1.5 million Pintos in 1978, leaving the car as a black spot on its record.
The Pinto became a cautionary tale about the peril of ignoring safety for automobiles. Iacocca’s “Safety doesn’t sell” motto became obsolete as consumers and regulatory agencies alike became more concerned about vehicle safety features. Grimshaw v. Ford set an example of how citizens can take a stand against corporations and enact meaningful change.

Originally published at https://michaelchhabra.com.