4 Deadly Vehicle Recalls In Modern History
Recently Ford had a recall of around 350,000 vehicles for being susceptible to catching fire under the hoods, 310,00 trucks with defective airbags, and 464 electric Mustang Mach-E SUVs with software malfunctions.
As far-reaching as that sounds, it pales in comparison to some of the more notorious recalls in automaker history–some of which took many lives.
Here are four of the worst in history:
Ford, Firestone, and Failing Tires
In 2000, Firestone recalled 14.4 million tires on Ford vehicles after an investigation revealed almost a whole decade of thread separation and blowouts. This recall came after 271 deaths and over 700 injuries.
GM Faulty Ignition Switches
2.6 million vehicles had to be recalled because GM installed faulty ignition switches that would turn off cars mid-drive! From 2003 to 2011, 303 people died and many more were injured in what were probably terrifying experiences.
Toyota’s Pedal Problem
After 3 years of continuous recalls and an astounding 9.3 million vehicles recalled, Toyota finally got things under control when unintended acceleration in their vehicles caused up to 89 deaths.
The Ford Pinto’s Fiery End
A notoriously dangerous vehicle (as we’ve highlighted in the past), the Pinto’s badly-placed gas tank was prone to bursting when involved in rear-end collisions. Over the course of 8 years, 180 people were killed in explosions before the vehicles were recalled.
