# Any car models actually been banned from the road for safety issues? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827 "2016-02-11T16:27:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/21 "2016-02-12T22:59:28Z")
Was the Pinto ever banned? Seems like an exploding gas tank would be sufficient! ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/22 "2016-02-12T23:51:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > A Morgan three-wheeler ([F-Series](http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z15940/Morgan-F-Series.aspx)). bob++'s link goes to an image of the 2011 “relaunched” version. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/23 "2016-02-13T03:47:57Z")
> [@Bert\_Nobbins](#): > > Cite? > > I had a Dyane (2CV with posh bodywork) for several years and in no way was it unusually dangerous, unlike Volkswagen Beetles with their treacherous handling. > It wouldn’t meet modern safety standards, but just having front-wheel drive is a great advantage. Sorry, no cite. Just an anecdote - what a career Air Force relative told me about his time in Germany in the mid-1960s. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/24 "2016-02-13T14:33:21Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > Was the Pinto ever banned? Seems like an exploding gas tank would be sufficient! I hope you know the exploding gas tank is a combo of urban legend and movie clip made for (IIRC) CBS which used standard Hollywood special effects to produce the explosion. The Pinto was no differently crashworthy than any other subcompact design of its era. The \*cause celebre \*was entirely that this was one of the first times the cost/safety tradeoffs inherent in any design effort were aired out in public. And Ford came out looking none to good when the pubic first noticed (was told?) that low cost and low safety are connected. See for more: [Ford Pinto - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto#Fuel_tank_controversy) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/25 "2016-02-13T14:58:24Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > I realize (even upon first viewing years ago) that the Clarkson segment on the Robin Reliant was a joke, but I always wondered a bit about the stability of having the steering axle be the single wheeled one - note the three 3-wheelers bob++ linked to have 2 wheeled axles in front, and the single wheel axle in back. The 2 front wheel arrangement _is_ more stable, everything else being equal. When any front-wheel-steering vehicle turns, the front of the vehicle points slightly away from the center of the turn. So the centrifugal force is not perpendicular to the vehicle; rather, it is slightly towards the front. Two tires at the front will resist the centrifugal force better. > [@](#): > > The Brits did make use of [lots of 3-wheel trucks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scammell_Scarab), single wheel steering axle, but those were normally rather low speed vehicles. [The Japanese too](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E4%B8%89%E8%BC%AA). ---
**Author:** ![bomberswarm2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bomberswarm2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomberswarm2)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/26 "2016-02-14T12:47:54Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I saw this [rather hilarious Top Gear video on the Reliant Robin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8), a 3-wheeled car that seems to spend more time rolled over on its side than it does upright. You know this from Top Gear and not from Mr. Bean? Are you like 2 years old? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/27 "2016-02-14T15:39:26Z")
> [@bomberswarm2](#): > > You know this from Top Gear and not from Mr. Bean? Are you like 2 years old? **Moderator Warning** **bomberswarm2** , insults are not permitted outside the Pit. This is an official warning. Do not do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/28 "2016-02-14T17:18:06Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Corvair. And it wasn’t banned. My uncle was a collector of 'em. My first (used) car was a 1964 Corvair. The thing I had problems with was not tipping over but an intermittent tail lights. Best thing about it? Great car in snow with all the weight from the engine in the rear. Sometimes I look at the ebay motors for Corvairs, never serious, but about the only make and model I do that for. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/29 "2016-02-14T18:42:08Z")
The Reliant three-wheeler was a reasonably common car here - the neighbour had a succession of them. I remember one of them blew over on its side during a gale when parked outside the house one night. It could, like the German ‘bubble car’ three wheelers, be driven on a motorbike licence in an age when many people had not quite become affluent enough to rise out of riding motorbikes. The engine was based on the pre-war Austin Seven unit and was used in Seven Fifty Formula racing cars in the 1970s as the nearest still-in-production thing they could get to the original Austin Seven based racers. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/30 "2016-02-16T06:42:43Z")
A friend once got a chance to drive one of the Messerschmidts. He said that it was terrifying; the steering was go-kart quick and waaaaay too sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827/31 "2016-02-16T08:59:21Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > Was the Pinto ever banned? Seems like an exploding gas tank would be sufficient! Recalled and fixed, not banned. I bought a 1974 Pinto in 1988. Part of the scandal of the Pinto was that the fix was a very cheap part, and they _knew_ the fix was a very cheap part, and they decided the cost of settling lawsuits would be less than the cost of a recall. IIRC, Ford was adamant that the Pinto sell for $2000, and the $2 that the protective bushing on the bolt (that without it could tear open the gas tank in a crash) would add to the manufacturing cost would put it over. Because apparently making 1/10 of 1% less profit was not an option. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-car-models-actually-been-banned-from-the-road-for-safety-issues/745827.md?page=1)