Context
A new analysis by independent automotive blog FuelArc suggests that fire fatalities are 17 times more likely in a Cybertruck than in the infamous Ford Pinto — the posterchild of deadly cars if ever there was one.
It’s specifically 17x more fire fatalities per car on the road - 5/35000 for the cyberturd, something like 30/3000000 for the pinto.
Notably the Pinto’s design was placing the gas tank behind the rear bumper, so getting rear-ended badly enough could cause a fireball. The big scandal was that Ford did the math on the cost of settlements vs recalls and found settlements would be cheaper, so they didn’t fix the issue.
Cyberturd on the other hand has big lithium batteries strapped to the bottom, notably locks occupants in the vehicle in the event of power failure (e.g. bad crash or battery failure, explosive or otherwise) AND its “apocalypse proof” design means it takes first responders a long time to smash through the windows to rescue you before you’re barbecued.
gas tank behind the rear bumper, so getting rear-ended badly enough could cause a fireball
The 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee had the same issue, with higher fatality rate per fire crash
On October 2, 2009, the Center for Auto Safety filed a safety defect petition for the recall of all 1993–04 Jeep Grand Cherokees with the fuel tank located behind the rear axle. At the time of the petition, CAS had identified 172 fatal fire crashes with 254 fatalities in the FARS file from calendar year 1992 through 2008. CAS identified 44 fire crashes with 64 deaths where fire was the most harmful event. In comparison, NHTSA reported a total of 38 fire crashes with 26 fatalities when it recalled the Ford Pinto.
I believe the recall fix was to install a trailer hitch that would deform the tank in such a way that it was less likely to cause a fire.
The big scandal was that Ford did the math on the cost of settlements vs recalls and found settlements would be cheaper, so they didn’t fix the issue.
I support having the death penalty but only for use against people with power that do shit like this.
China stays winning on this sort of thing fr
this used to be a country about engineering catastrophe on purpose to save a buck
the result of this is that now this is a country that engineers catastrophes out of complete and utter incompetence.
Oh yeah, the whole cybertruck is an engineering disaster I really want to hear a good deep dive on. There are so many systemic issues with its production, and it really is the exact shit you’d end up with by running a car manufacturer like a software company.
It genuinely suffers from trying to reinvent the wheel for like literally every part of the car - most automakers purchase parts from specialized manufacturers that serve a bunch of different automakers, Tesla builds nearly everything in-house and as a result suffers from issues that every other manufacturer solved many decades ago (like auto glass that doesn’t spontaneously shatter, functional windshield wipers, wheels that don’t rip off at the lug nuts, basic waterproofing, etc)
IIRC, there were a couple additional issues with the Pinto. There was a problem with the filler tube that connected to the fuel tank (I think it was welded to the body or something), and this could cause a rupture and subsequent conflagration. The fuel tank was much too close to the bumper, and there wasn’t enough of a buffer zone around it; there were lots of structural items nearby that could cause punctures. Ford actually had the option to license a self-sealing “fuel bladder”, a design that came from the aviation industry, but the bean counters nixed that. The doors tended to bind and jam in a collision, trapping occupants in a burning vehicle. And finally, '70s-era Ford was really making some lousy cars, especially small ones. The Pinto is yet another case of “the hard way is the easiest to learn”. (I think there was an episode of Engineering Disasters that covered the Pinto fiasco in great detail).
The diagram you posted below shows what a defective design it really was. It’s almost as if they shoehorned in the fuel tank wherever they could, like it was an afterthought.
it takes first responders a long time to smash through the windows to rescue you before you’re barbecued.
Panicked tweet: “Help us, Daddy Elon! We’re stuck in our Cybertruck and there’s a fire! Something’s burning and it smells like bacon. W” and it ends there.
funny(?) morbid anecdote
Bacon smell is real lol. When I was a kid, my dad and I were stopped at an intersection on our way to get lunch. We started talking about how good the nearby barbecue smelled, until he realized there wasn’t any barbecue place nearby… then I noticed smoke coming out of the chimney at the funeral home across the way — they were doing a cremation
CW: cannibalism
The macabre term long pig for ‘human flesh used as food’ dates from the mid-nineteenth century. It is supposedly a translation of an expression used in the language of a cannibal people of the southwestern Pacific rim.
I wonder if there have been any at least fairly notable death metal bands with that name. A band that did one EP and existed in Liverpool for 8 months in 1983 doesn’t really count to me.
Measuring the data in this way actually skews it in favor of the cybertruck, because the ford Pintos have each had a lot more road-time and thus more fire likelihood. So likely more than 17x worse
I think you meant the gas tank was behind the rear axle, it was definitely ahead of the bumper. Subsequent studies had shown that the pinto wasn’t uniquely unsafe compared to other subcompacts from the era.
yeah, between the rear axel and the bumper. “just behind” the bumper if you’re coming from the back of the car, e.g., rear-ending it
edit: diagram to clarify:
What even is the point of the cybertruck? Is it just an ‘own the libs’ mobile?
You buy one to prove a point to your ex wife
Or you buy one to initiate a divorce without having to do the work of filing for it
Currently engulfed in flames, love the truck, tho
Surely Tesla has not released their independent crash testing data on the Cybertruck because it makes them look really good.
My mom had a powder blue pinto. It was the first and last “off the lot brand new car” she ever bought.
…
I mean, she didn’t burn to death in it or anything, she just never trusted a brand new car pretty much for the rest of her life. Always bought used.
I did some googling and the wagon looks pretty cool - https://hexbear.net/post/4453426
Self
to the worst people imaginable lmaoFord Pinto
Mad scientist: At last, I have invented a bad bean!
