56 of the Worst Cars of All Time

23. 1971 Ford Pinto

The Ford Pinto was a mediocre car at best. It handled ok enough, the suspension was decent, and the engine while not powerful, was reliable. What makes the Pinto such a terrible car was the safety risk involved in driving one. When involved in a rear end collision, the Pinto had a tendency to burst into flames. This was due to the rear end not having enough reinforcement to protect the fuel tank. To make matters even worse, there was a memo sent out by the Ford company to its senior management regarding this problem. In the memo the powers that be at Ford outline that it would cost $70 million dollars less to pay the families of those injured than it would cost to reinforce the fuel tank.