Ford Pinto

The Ford Pinto was a compact car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was first introduced in 1971. Through the production run of the model, it became a focus of a major scandal when it was discovered that the car's design allowed its fuel tank to be easily damaged in the event of a rear end collision which often resulted in deadly fires and explosions. Furthermore, it was discovered that Ford was aware of this design flaw, but they refused to pay the minimal expense of a redesign. Instead, it was decided it would be cheaper to pay off possible lawsuits for resulting deaths. This discovery of Ford's apparent disregard for human lives in favour of profits led to major lawsuits and inconclusive criminal charges. In 2002, the Ford Crown Victoria was found to have a similar fuel tank explosion problem.

The Pinto Engine

Pinto is also a nickname for an engine used in many of Ford's European automobiles (officially in Ford-speak it was simply known as the "OHC"). The "Pinto" name was used due to the engine being exported to the US to be used in the Pinto car described above. In Europe it was introduced in 1970 in the Mk.3 Ford Cortina (Taunus). It has been used in the Ford Escort RS2000, Ford Cortina, Ford Sierra, Ford Granada, Ford Scorpio and the Ford Transit van. It was available in 1.3, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 litre capacity. Significant, as it was the first Ford engine to feature a belt-driven overhead camshaft. Due to emission requirements it was phased out towards the end of the 1980s to be replaced with the CVH and DOHC, the latter being a twin-cam development of the Pinto unit. The 16-valve version of the DOHC unit is still used on the Transit.

External Links

\n* http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Autos/Makes_and_Models/Ford/Pinto/ Pinto