page_title: List of automobiles known for negative reception
section_title: Ford Pinto (1971–80)
hierarchical_section_title: List of automobiles known for negative reception / 1970s / Ford Pinto (1971–80)
caption_attribution_description: Ford Pinto. Foreground car is a restored example; background is a hot-rodded version with popup headlights.
context_page_description: This is a list of automobiles known for negative reception. They are judged by poor critical reception, poor customer reception, safety defects, and/or poor workmanship. For inclusion, these automobiles have either been referred to in popular publications as the worst of all time, or have received negative reviews across multiple publications. Some of these cars were popular on the marketplace or were critically praised at their launch, but have earned a strongly negative retroactive reception, while others are not considered to be intrinsically "bad", but have acquired infamy for safety or emissions defects that permanently damaged the car's reputation. Conversely, some vehicles which were poorly received at the time ended up being reevaluated by collectors and became cult classics.
context_section_description: While the Ford Pinto was a strong seller that got a decent reception, its reputation was permanently marred upon the discovery that the car could catch fire upon being rear ended due to a defective fuel tank design, as well as the revelation of the infamous "Pinto memo", which revealed that Ford executives knew about the design defect and decided to do nothing after calculating that paying off lawsuits was cheaper than reengineering the car. Including the car in his book Automotive Atrocities! The Cars We Love to Hate, Eric Peters discussed the "Pinto memo", noted that it would have cost Ford $1 per car to reinforce the fuel tank, and summed up the Pinto's entry with the line, "See how much corporate America cares?" Included on Time magazine's list of the 50 worst cars of all time, Dan Neil wrote of its inclusion, "They shoot horses, don’t they? Well, this is fish in a barrel. Of course the Pinto goes on the Worst list, but not because it was a particularly bad car — not particularly — but because it had a rather volatile nature. The car tended to erupt in flame in rear-end collisions." Named one of the "Most Questionable Cars of All Time", CNN said of it, "Images of flaming Pintos are so seared into the public consciousness that it's probably hard for most people, unaided by a photograph, to conjure a mental image of the car while not on fire." Autoblog ranked the Pinto #1 on its list "The 20 Dumbest Cars of All Time", taking note of the combination of the Pinto's dangerous defect with how Ford marketed it towards young drivers: "So, this car was aimed at the least experienced drivers in America and the most prone to being in accidents. And after the truth came out, it soured a lot of those kids and their parents on buying more Fords just as the Asians were rising and redefining quality in America." Aside from the fire issues, the Pinto was also criticized for its poor name choice. It was named after the pinto horse, but "Pinto" is slang for the male genitalia in Portuguese . International Business Times included the Pinto in a list of The 5 Worst Name Oversights. The Pinto placed third in Car Talk's 2000 "Worst Car of the Millennium" survey and was ranked the 16th worst car of all time by Edmunds.com.
caption: Ford Pinto
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