Overheat
Forum Addict
Car makers spend ?billions perfecting their new cars. They spend literally years in development and with the millions of miles that will flow under the wheels of hundreds of prototypes, it's a wonder they have any faults at all. Happily, while robots now build cars, they're still designed by humans and we still make mistakes no computer is going to pick up. In fact, the entire history of the automobile is strewn with the corpses of cars that came to market complete with a potentially fatal flaw already lurking under the metal...
Read it in full here: http://www.channel4.com/4car/feature/features-2005/crap-cars/crap-cars.html
Ford Edsel: so many problems, the marque lasted just three years
Ford GT: only a few built, but every one has had to be recalled
Austin Allegro: one of only a few cars which had less air resistance in reverse than it did going forward
Chevrolet Corvair: led Ralph Nader to write a book about it titled: 'Unsafe at any speed'
Delorean DMC12: stainless steel - looks good, but scratches if you even breathe near it.
AMC Pacer: its great design feature was to have a passenger door that was much longer than the driver's door so your children could safely and easily climb into the back. Great idea. But then they had the even greater idea of selling it in the UK with right-hand drive. Unfortunately they couldn't swap the doors over too, forcing your children to climb aboard on the same side as the traffic.
Ford Pinto: owing to its badly-sited fuel tank, frightened owners used bumperstickers that read 'Hit me and we blow up together'
Jaguar Mk1: the transport of choice for every 1950s bank-robber?
FSO Polonez: hatchback would have been practical had they thought also to install a folding rear seat
Moskvich 412: So sharp were some of the interior fitments that you could survive an accident in one unharmed only to suffer the indignity of being stabbed by your own car whilst trying to get out
Facel Vega Excellence: absence of B-pillars meant that if all four doors were open at once, roof lacked structural strength to maintain its shape
Alfa Romeo Alfasud: built by people that hadn't built cars before, and hence oxidized almost overnight
Audi 5000: though the claims were never proved, owners accused the Audi of spontaneous acceleration, leading to its demise
Skoda Estelle: consumer groups were so appalled by its manners they persuaded the Department of Transport to investigate what they saw as its wayward nature
Mercedes A-Class: Before it was launched in 1997, a Swedish hack managed to flip one while simulating a dramatic attempt to swerve around an errant moose
Read it in full here: http://www.channel4.com/4car/feature/features-2005/crap-cars/crap-cars.html
Ford Edsel: so many problems, the marque lasted just three years
Ford GT: only a few built, but every one has had to be recalled
Austin Allegro: one of only a few cars which had less air resistance in reverse than it did going forward
Chevrolet Corvair: led Ralph Nader to write a book about it titled: 'Unsafe at any speed'
Delorean DMC12: stainless steel - looks good, but scratches if you even breathe near it.
AMC Pacer: its great design feature was to have a passenger door that was much longer than the driver's door so your children could safely and easily climb into the back. Great idea. But then they had the even greater idea of selling it in the UK with right-hand drive. Unfortunately they couldn't swap the doors over too, forcing your children to climb aboard on the same side as the traffic.
Ford Pinto: owing to its badly-sited fuel tank, frightened owners used bumperstickers that read 'Hit me and we blow up together'
Jaguar Mk1: the transport of choice for every 1950s bank-robber?
FSO Polonez: hatchback would have been practical had they thought also to install a folding rear seat
Moskvich 412: So sharp were some of the interior fitments that you could survive an accident in one unharmed only to suffer the indignity of being stabbed by your own car whilst trying to get out
Facel Vega Excellence: absence of B-pillars meant that if all four doors were open at once, roof lacked structural strength to maintain its shape
Alfa Romeo Alfasud: built by people that hadn't built cars before, and hence oxidized almost overnight
Audi 5000: though the claims were never proved, owners accused the Audi of spontaneous acceleration, leading to its demise
Skoda Estelle: consumer groups were so appalled by its manners they persuaded the Department of Transport to investigate what they saw as its wayward nature
Mercedes A-Class: Before it was launched in 1997, a Swedish hack managed to flip one while simulating a dramatic attempt to swerve around an errant moose
It actually looks like a drop of water with tale side upfornt..
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