Byron Bloch’s Ford Pinto model, 1970s
date: label: date made
content: 1971
notes: label: Description
content: Beginning in the 1960s, safety expert Byron Bloch exposed dangerous automobile designs and recommended safer designs through courtroom testimony, government depositions, investigative reporting, journal articles, and lectures. Bloch documented fuel tank fires, crushed roofs, and other hazards caused by vulnerable parts that failed during collisions or rollovers. He advocated tougher federal standards and designs that promised to reduce the number of injuries, disabilities, and fatalities. In 1978, an Indiana family's 1973 Ford Pinto was struck from behind, and the rear-mounted fuel tank ruptured and burst into flames. An expert witness in State of Indiana v. Ford Motor Company (1980), Bloch showed the prosecution team a safer fuel tank location forward of the car's rear axle. He also hand-painted the chassis parts on this model to make his point to the prosecution team and jury. Ford was acquitted, but media attention focused on the Ulrich trial and similar trials helped to bring about change at auto manufacturing companies. By the 1980s, fuel tanks on many new cars were located forward of the rear axle, preventing fires and saving lives.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: American Enterprise
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: Road Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Byron Bloch
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2010.0197.01
label: catalog number
content: 2010.0197.01
label: accession number
content: 2010.0197
objectType: label: Object Name
content: car model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 in x 7 in x 3 in; 5.08 cm x 17.78 cm x 7.62 cm