From: jim on


"C. E. White" wrote:

> >
> > The facts are clear - Pinto were no more likely to catch on fire
> > than other vehicles from that era of the same size. Many cars of
> > that era had gas tank mounted in the same location in the same
> > manner (for instance my 280Z had a similar tank location). Even more
> > modern vehicles have gas tanks mounted in this manner. Late 90's
> > Jeeps are now being investigated becasue the Ditlow gang is fishing
> > for new clients.

That's all true, but mis-leading. Lots of cars rupture gas tanks on rear
end collisions and some of them catch fire. The thing that made a
relatively minor rear end collision bad with the Pinto was that the
ruptured gas tank broke through the floor and spilled gas into the
passenger compartment. Plus the rear end impact had a tendency to jam
the doors so the passengers were trapped inside with the burning fuel.
It also didn't help that it came out in court that Ford had discovered
all of this in crash tests and had made a cost benefit calculation that
predicted that 100's of people would be burned alive and 1000's of cars
would burned but the calculated cost of settling those lawsuits that
this would produce would be less than the cost of fixing the problem. Of
course this turned out to be a huge miscalculation on their part
because that bit of information sent the jury awards through the roof
and if I recall there even were homicide charges filed.

-jim
From: Al Falfa on

"Steve" <no(a)spam.thanks> wrote in message
news:HfSdnWcKZKtTomHXnZ2dnUVZ_jOdnZ2d(a)texas.net...
> Al Falfa wrote:
>>
>> "Steve" <no(a)spam.thanks> wrote in message
>> news:6_qdnVUeDo8Xd2fXnZ2dnUVZ_qpi4p2d(a)texas.net...
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> What kind of idiot would unload the trunk with the engine running and
>>>>> the Parking Brake not engaged?
>>>> The parking brake was engaged.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Not if the car moved, it wasn't. "Engaged" doesn't mean "one click," it
>>> means ENGAGED enough to hold. Still operator error.
>>>
>> What do you know about this? Nothing.
>>
>
> I know that a properly engaged parking brake will hold a vehicle against
> the force of the engine at idle with an automatic transmission in gear.
>
> Kinda like the (perhaps apocryphal) story of the railroad engineer
> testifying at a trial. "The locomotive then struck the illegally parked
> car...." The lawyer said, "AHA, you can't possibly KNOW the car was
> illegaly parked!" "Of course I can," the engineer said, "because the
> locomotive hit it."

The engine wasn't running. You know nothing of this accident. Why pretend
that you do?

From: hls on

"Al Falfa" <crop(a)eastforty.fld> wrote in message
news:4afc9f67(a)newsgate.x-privat.org...
>

>
> The engine wasn't running. You know nothing of this accident. Why
> pretend that you do?


How did the car back over the guy if the engine were not running? Please
enlighten
us.

From: Al Falfa on

"hls" <hls(a)nospam.nix> wrote in message
news:Z86dnVJONdcOMmHXnZ2dnUVZ_sOdnZ2d(a)giganews.com...
>
> "Al Falfa" <crop(a)eastforty.fld> wrote in message
> news:4afc9f67(a)newsgate.x-privat.org...
>>
>
>>
>> The engine wasn't running. You know nothing of this accident. Why
>> pretend that you do?
>
>
> How did the car back over the guy if the engine were not running? Please
> enlighten
> us.

She parallel parked on a hill in front of a Laundromat. As she was
unloading her laundry from the trunk the car rolled back, crushing her into
another parked car. A broken bone pierced an artery and she bleed to
death. The indicator pointed at Park but the car was not in Park. It was a
70's vintage Ford sedan, probably seven to ten years old at the time.


From: hls on

"Al Falfa" <crop(a)eastforty.fld> wrote in message
news:4afcd102(a)newsgate.x-privat.org...

> She parallel parked on a hill in front of a Laundromat. As she was
> unloading her laundry from the trunk the car rolled back, crushing her
> into another parked car. A broken bone pierced an artery and she bleed
> to death. The indicator pointed at Park but the car was not in Park. It
> was a 70's vintage Ford sedan, probably seven to ten years old at the
> time.
>

That is a real shame, and I am sorry that this happened to your friend.
It is hard to guess exactly what may have happened.
I was taught to park with the wheels oriented so that the curb (if any)
would provide secondary restraint for the car, to use Park, and to set
the parking brake as well.

The parking brake is really not much of a restraint on some cars. The
transmission Park should be a lot stronger, but the indicator could have
been off, the pawl could have snapped, or maybe the transmission
jumped out of park as you say.

Did her survivors sue Ford?