I had a turbocharges1963 Corvair Spyder convertible. Thomas Sowell: Vision of the Anointed. It was offered for a while with a gasoline-burner heater located in the front "trunk," a common but dangerously dumb accessory at the time. One issue is never take into account in all this criticism about the Corvair: a car with rear engine, an automatic transmission of two or three gears and a torque converter that is always trying to absorb the lack of torque at low rpm, can not perform the main way to deal with oversteering. Eventually, this pattern became the standard for all automatic-shift cars. Nader seemed to miss the point that the rear engine may have also been a contributing factor that lead to many accidents. But it was close, and I realized that I had just used up a few lives. The suspension system used was the exact same type as the Volkswagen Beetle, as well as the Porsche 911. According to Sowell, Nader also did not mention that motor vehicle death rates per 100 million passenger miles fell over the years from 17.9 in 1925 to 5.5 in 1965. I charged $1.00/week, for each person, could keep my car filled with gas, and still had enough money left over for lunch, every dayLOL! A 1972 safety commission report conducted by Texas A&M University concluded that the 1960-1963 Corvair possessed no greater potential for loss of control than its contemporary competitors in extreme situations. Within the fist month or so after I bought the car, it was recalled to totally replace the emergency brake which was a faulty design. Had same suspension as many other models widely used in the US and Europe (Ford Falcon, VW Beetle, Renault were a few) The NTSB concluded that the 196063 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles used in the teststhe handling and stability performance of the 196063 Corvair does not result in an abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover, and it is at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles both foreign and domestic. Look it up in case you would like to actually fact check your story. This review panel then issued its own 24-page report (PB 211-014, available from NTIS), which concluded that "the 196063 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles used in the teststhe handling and stability performance of the 196063 Corvair does not result in an abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover, and it is at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles both foreign and domestic. gasket failures, for example. 250 horses. Luckily there was no traffic behind me, and I kept control of my car. These unregulated requirements were often not filled by the owners of Corvairs. The engine was a mix of aluminum block and steel cylinders. [16] NHTSA went on to contract a three-person advisory panel of independent professional engineers to review the scope and competency of their tests. MPs asked questions in Parliament and made noises about legislation and the three manufacturers who were in varying stages of development of their latest vehicles to vie for the glory of winning that race abandoned the projects in the face of the threat of legislation. Mar 11, 2020 at 2:51pm, | Feb 22, 2020 at 9:19pm, | So what if sixty per cent of its weight was over the back wheels? Jul 3, 2019 at 3:46pm, | According to Manuel Velasquez, chair of the Santa Clara University Management Department, the traditional view of corporate moral responsibility held that a corporation should only be considered morally responsible for injuries its product caused if three conditions were present: According to Velazquez, the prevailing view these days is that corporations can be held morally responsible for injuries users inflict upon themselves, even if the company had no way to prevent them from occurring. Evaluation of the extensive data obtained from General Motors and from other sources, analysis of the NHTSA input-response vehicle test data, and recommendations from the Advisory Panel emlployed in this case indicate that: The 1960-1963 Corvair understeers in the same manner as conventional passenger cars up to about 0.4g lateral acceleration, makes a transition from understeer, through neutral steer, to oversteer in a range from about 0.4g to 0.5g lateral acceleration. WebBecause there were so many safety issues that arose from this case, the Corvair is an important benchmark in automotive history. George Caramagna, a mechanic working on the suspension system, suggested installing a stabilizer (anti-roll or "anti-sway") bar, but was overruled by GM management. WebThe problems were three-fold: rear suspension, tire pressures and weight distribution. The subsequent 143-page report (PB 211-015, available from NTIS) reviewed a series of actual handling tests designed to evaluate the handling and stability under extreme conditions; a review of national accident data compiled by insurance companies and traffic authorities for the cars in the testand a review of related General Motors/Chevrolet internal letters, memos, tests, reports, etc. The sporty, more upscale Monza would become the most popular Corvair, with more than a third of the 1964 models being the 2-door sedan like the sellers car. After the problems of the Corvairs were realized by third-party manufacturers and mechanics, aftermarket parts that made the vehicle safer became rather common. WebThe rear engine placement in the Corvair caused a weight imbalance that resulted in poor handling. a bump or something because the hood popped open and it was ripped off the car what seemed like a hurricane force. At that time, traffic was generally non-existent out of the major cities. The engine had been meticulously balanced and had a 4-barrel carburator. The handling and stability performance of the 1960-1963 Corvair does not result in an abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover and it is at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles both foreign and domestic.. Guess Nader missed that one. Porsche 911 Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty But there was more to it than that. Just kidding. Chicago, IL 60632 Most of the above were known well before the corvair was designed: No problems with the handling. Still, Nader asserted that the Corvair stood out because its swing-axle suspension and rear-engined layout contributed to dangerous oversteer. As a performance vehicle, many people enjoyed driving the Corvair at high speeds. That afternoon, I told my mom to sell the car. Ive never heard anyone describe that as unsafe at any speed. Several examples are given of people being run over, or cars becoming runaways because drivers were not familiar with the shift pattern, causing them to shift into reverse when intending to shift to low gear, or vice versa. Interior panels and instruments were glossy and reflective of Alternately, drivers intending to select Low sometimes moved it too far into Reverse when intending to move forwards, and the car could ram into walls or buildings, damaging property and/or injuring people. The very 1st Corvair I saw in fall 1959 was upside down off a 2 lane highway with a switch back curve. If you didn't like the Corvair, you were a killjoy, nanny-state safety drone who didn't know how to handle a car. 61s thru 66. Supposed performance cars such as the Mustang did not get standard fully independent suspensions for another 50 years. Hows that self detonating Pinto gas tank doing for you fellers?? I thought my Corvair handled much better than most American cars of the period. The required tire pressures were unusual: 15 psi in front, 26 psi Not 75 lbs but it helped balance the car a bit and opened up the engine compartment. To the industry, he said "Enforcement" and "Education" meant the driver, while "Engineering" was all about the road. Jan 24, 2022 at 9:06pm, | Nader made an appeal to the auto industry to standardize gearshift patterns as a safety issue. And a lesson was learned. But in 1972 Americans were preoccupied with Nixon visiting China, Watergate, Vietnam and The Godfather movie. Motor Trend named the Corvair its 1960 Car of the Year. Understeer was so pronounced in such vehicles they would likely just plow ahead with minimal or slow change of direction if you tried this. With more than 60 per cent of its weight over the back wheels, and swing-axle rear suspension, the Corvair laid a trap for the unwary: If you went into a corner too fast, the disproportionate mass of the rear end acted as a pendulum, rotating the car. According to the standards of the Tire and Rim Association, these recommended pressures caused the front tires to be overloaded whenever there were two or more passengers in the car. Other tail-heavy cars that have done well, such as the Lotus' Elise and Exige, and of course the modern iterations of Porsche's classic 911 Carrera. According to the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, about 34 million people are injured or killed each year due to product-related accidents, making this the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 36. Another option is to form an ethics advisory committee that closely examines the various ethical dilemmas that could arise from the use of your products. So, if you didnt drive it stupidly you would likely not have a problem. 4400 S Kildare Ave !,,, 2nd generation(65and up) is sexy looking. report disputed his allegations about abnormal handling in sharp turns and suggested the Corvair's rollover rate was comparable to similar cars.[3]. last year made was1969. So who was the real villain? When Chevrolets innovative 1960 rear-engine, air-cooled economy car hit the streets, Time put the car and its creator -- Chevrolet chief Ed Cole -- on its cover. As i reached the apex and started down the otherside, I must have hit In the ensuing decades, notable product liability cases have included litigation against Ford due to an exploding gas tank in its Pinto model and McDonalds because of a customer being burned by its hot coffee. There was no such thing as a Corvair Custom. Naders view was that the cars original rear suspension was downright lethal. Nov 15, 2019 at 6:33pm, | Then in 1965 consumer advocate Ralph Nader devoted an entire chapter to one of Corvair's glaring weaknesses, i.e. He may have killed an entire generation of automotive innovation at GM. Had GM/Chev kept the proto design, Ralph Nader would not have been able to write the book and become so famous. I think my Corvair could take a corner appreciably faster than the typical front engined car of the day. The Corvair represented innovation for the American car industry, feeling otherwise unjustifiably secure in its dominant market position. I subsequently drove my 60 Corvair cross county and in Canada in the winter. Noted twentieth-century economist Milton Friedman believed that corporations were legal entities only. But, with the negative fallout from Naders book, the damage had been done. My experience was so unlike many of the comments Ive heard or read over the years that Ive come to wonder if these folks had ever driven one. Money hungry companies are always going to be around. Feb 23, 2019 at 5:54pm, | So, if your driving skills were minimal you could get yourself into trouble.The typical American Car of the period had such slow steering and so much weight up between the front wheels (big v8s) that it probably was not, in the hands of an ordinary driver, capable of such a rapid turn. It also deals with the use of tires and tire pressure being based on comfort rather than on safety, and the automobile industry disregarding technically based criticism. Gas was cheap, and the majority of drivers neither knew nor cared about such a mundane issue as fuel economy. Input-response type dynamic tests which could provide qualitative data, were selected for this comparative test program. Jun 27, 2019 at 1:01pm, | I guess it was in 72 or 73 I was driving down Pacific hwy in San Diego going north bound. The price paid by the industry for its conservatism and crappy cars was huge market share loss to Japanese, Korean and European car makers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had conducted a series of comparative tests in 1971 studying the handling of the 1963 Corvair and four contemporary cars, a Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant, Volkswagen Beetle, Renault Dauphinealong with a second generation Corvair with revised suspension design. Like other American cars of the period there was room for improvement but all-in-all, the Corvair was probably the most advanced American car of the period. GM finally did that in 1964 and switched to independent rear suspension in the 1965 second-generation Corvair. In my experience it was a good handling car. Over-steering issues were also caused by the absence of an anti-sway bar in the Corvair. Ralph Nader built his reputation dishonestly as regards the Corvair, in my opinion. The 1965 and onward models replaced that with a truly independent rear suspension. It was named Motor Trends "car of the year" for 1960. It was from 1959 to 1969. This review panel concluded that "the 1960-1963 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles used in the tests [] the handling and stability performance of the 196063 Corvair does not result in an abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover, and it is at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles both foreign and domestic.". All had four speed manual transmissions except the Custom. Mar 31, 2019 at 8:26pm, | Because it was difficult to tell by feel whether the lever was in Low or in Reverse, drivers intending to select Reverse would frequently fail to move the lever far enough and shoot forwards. If he only knows how to be an engineer, it doesnt matter how nice a plane it is, hell never get it off the ground. After my initial trip, I began carrying my 75 lb toolbox in the front trunk. Corvair sales dried up, and GM took the car off the market in 1969, just nine years after its first appearance. But after the last run he decided, just for fun, to run the course in the reverse direction -- and the car rolled up on its side. Jan 13, 2022 at 3:04pm, | I felt the Corvair's back end starting to swing, like a chuck wagon starting a fatal slew at the Calgary Stampede. Technical Support:800.367.3245 The demise of the Corvair speaks to the gullibility and naivete of the public. Youre correct that the Camaro wheels would have fit if you have a 5 lug Corvair, but Im afraid youre lug spacing is off a bit. one of the first US automaker offerings to compete in this category. The problems were three-fold: rear suspension, tire pressures and weight distribution. Many people add the Corvair to this list because of its, NASA Working on System That Will Make Autonomous Aircraft Common in City Skies. The whole issue was highly exaggerated and over-hyped, just like Naders book. With one eye on a shrinking market share and the other eye firmly fixed on the bottom line, GM, Ford and Chrysler executives set about to develop cars intended to blunt this infestation. When combined with poor handling, high speeds can lead to an accident when the driver attempts to correct a steering error. In the best-case scenario, E & C is perceived as a necessary evil that [], Despite the negative connotations that are often associated with whistleblowing, employees who report misconduct are providing a valuable service to their organizations. It even had factory air conditioning! As late as 1965, he noted that 320 million federal dollars were allocated to highway beautification, while just $500,000 was dedicated to highway safety. The first normative theory that will be used to determine Chevys actions is Deontology. A crisis can take the form of anything from an allegation of sexual harassment against a top executive to evidence of discriminatory labor practices. Chapter 5 is about Detroit automotive engineers' general unwillingness to focus on road-safety improvements for fear of alienating the buyer or making cars too expensive. However, there was another killer car responsible for injuring many people and unfortunately it went unnoticed until it safety measures were incorporated after 1967. A few friends remembered Nader's book and questioned my mom about the Corvair's safety, but I assured her there was nothing to worry about. Corvair in Action, The by Handy (Jam) Organization Publication date 1960 Usage Public Domain Topics Automobiles: Advertising Digitizing sponsor Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corporation Promotional film for the controversial Chevrolet Corvair. After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. LOOK AT THE DAMN DATE IN THE BOOK stupid!! Had one interesting moment that I remember. With manual transmissions, VW, Porsche, Renault etc can handle oversteering with the driver counter steering AND keeping some throttle after curve apex, exactly as if it was drifting. I pulled over, sweating, and sat beside the road for a while, taking in the smell of the grass, the cerulean blue of the summer sky, and the trill of robins flitting through the trees that I had nearly wrapped myself around. This fixed the issues with the 1960-1964 Corvairs rear suspension. The Corvair's problems were not insoluble. The swing axle rear suspension of the pre 1965 models received a lot of criticism but other cars including VWs, Porsches and Mercedes had this type of suspension. i personally dont like anything about the camaro except rims options just because my corvair came with the same size bolt pattern(5ON5)FIVE INCH bolt pattern(iroc-z rims fit right on like a glove). Dec 26, 2019 at 6:51pm, |