124. The Pinto (Ford Motor Company)

They should have been charged with wrecked homicide

Outstanding. Thank you for what you do.

Hey now, Ford knew the Pinto could turn into a fireball, and Lee Cocoa’s team said run it anyway! Exploding cars were just line items on a spreadsheet. America: where innovation meets incineration.💜

Oh man I sure am a slut for stories about corporate greed, political corruption and public deception - God Bless America and Swindled for always getting me off 🇺🇸👍 🐷

And I was thinking about another recent death trap vehicle. Otherwise, good job ACC.

And yet Republicans still insist there is no need for regulations — greedy corporations will do the right thing out of the altruistic goodness of their hearts. Rigghhhttt. 🙄

Ford vs Ferrari really looks to have nailed Lee Iacocca in that movie. He really was the asshole depicted.

That was so sad. It’s amazing to me that people can do that to other people for money. Shame on them.

Wow. I grew up in Elkhart County and did not know anything about this case! Incredible and terrifying episode.

Corporations don't care about anything but their money. This just makes me feel so sad for all the families. I hate big corporations. They never get shut down. Sickening.

Excellent episode! Love the writing! Thank you!

I didn't realize you're also the Easter Bunny! Best basket ever! Thanks for all you do🧡

I had never heard IN A MURDER TRIAL that showing pictures of the victims was not allowed. If one had any hope it was certainly extinguished then. Imagine that flying today. What a gift to hear the Swindled treatment of this story. Also, somehow not having female test dummies for safety tests until 2011 is another "cost of doing business" that absolutely boggles my mind (another gift of the US auto industry).

"The shit we make is broken and kills people." "We won't tell them." "Or... hear me out... we fix it." "That sounds haaaaaaarrrrd." "Boss--" "And we'd have to tell everyone, and you know I got the anxiety."

Pet peeve: there is no such colour as 'mustard green'. It is either green or it is yellow, albeit 'dirty yellow'. Being a true crime nerd it's been amazing to me over many years how people 'read' colours of vehicles differently and this colour is one such e.g. There have been a few cases (some very famous) where the perp wasn't a suspect because he drove the 'wrong colour vehicle' when he did not ('green' instead of 'gold', vice versa) and where witnesses described a vehicle colour wrongly, calling it 'light green' when it was yellow/gold, and vice versa. Mistaking a shade of blue for green and vice versa is another one. Witnesses, law enforcement, should be given a palette of kids' watercolour paints and told to produce by mixing paints, the shade of the vehicle they saw, or that the suspect drove, and 'take your time'', to really nail it down. Here in British Columbia you cannot register a vehicle as, for example, 'beige' or 'gold', or 'bronze'. All of those colours have to be registered as 'brown'. STUPID! Yours is Best Podcast Ever. Hands down. Thanks for all of your hard work.

Now do cybertruck.

Man, I'm glad I don't drive nor do I spend a lot of time in cars. What a horrific and saddening case.

Great episode but really upsetting. I worked in a uni arts and design dept and the car design course covered this case and others. I know of several lads who changed their focus to product design rather than stay in the auto course as a result. They couldn’t cope with the sheer callousness and lack of ethics in the car industry. It can only be hoped that those who stayed learnt something.

That recall of the paramedic talking to the driver broke me… I couldn’t even imagine how heartbreaking 💔 but it was devastating hearing your story telling of how that happened 😭😢

Oh. It’s amazing how you can turn a horrendously hideous day into a beautiful nighttime experience (with the added joy of a Xanax…. Oopsie) ❤️❤️❤️

Kids get Easter Baskets, parents get a Swindled episode. Thanks, ACC!!!

As a car enthusiast, what an episode.

Narrator: Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one. Woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents? Narrator: You wouldn't believe. Woman on plane: Which car company do you work for? Narrator: A major one.

Food for thought whilst my kids & I leave the comforts of the city to drive 3 hours back to our home in the mountains....

The classic case of corporate crime. Can't wait to listen.

My prayers! They are answered!

The lord doth provide on this day <3

Exactly what I needed before driving 1 hour to my parents

Thank You, ACC, and Happy Easter.

Happy Easter 🐰