Why does nobody talk about the Ford Pinto's gas tank bolts and the recall that only fixed some cars

Leo Young · 2026-10-03T05:00:03.826937+00:00

I was reading an old service manual at my uncle's shop in Toledo and found out the Pinto recall in 1978 only added a plastic shield to cars built after a certain date. The early ones got a different fix that dealers did by hand. Something like 1.5 million cars were involved but the shield was a cheap piece of plastic. What got me was the bolt that held the bumper bracket, it sat right next to the tank and would punch through in a rear hit. My uncle said he did those recalls at a dealer in the 80s and half the cars came back with rusted shields a few years later. Has anyone here worked on a car where the recall fix was just a band aid on a design problem?

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Why does nobody talk about the Ford Pinto's gas tank bolts and the recall that only fixed some cars | Cars That Were Built Wrong - Rigidtalk