How was the Pinto a death trap? Especially when compared to other subcompacts of the time, it had fewer deaths per million vehicles on the road. It even had a lower rate of fatality due to fire than other sub-compacts.

It is only for fires caused from rear collisions that it had a higher fatality rate.

It had a design defect, to be sure. But the overall safety of the car was pretty much average for its class.

Now, the VW Beetle was a deathtrap! It had a 10-20% higher fatality rate than the Pinto.

Damn Germans!