Image courtesy of The Other 98% / Facebook "); } else if(is_tablet()){ slot_number++; document.write(" Other users subsequently reposted the same meme on Facebook, Reddit, Threads and X. The bottom of the meme displayed a small bit of text citing inspiration from X user Jeras Ikehorn, who somewhat similarly posted (archived) on Dec. 1, "FACTS: '38 Ford Pintos' blew up and that car became a joke… So, why have a whopping '232 Teslas' blown up and YOU don't even hear one thing about it? Why?!" We contacted The Other 98%, Ikehorn and Tesla to learn more, but to date, we've only heard back from The Other 98%, in a message that rebuked us for even asking questions. Tesla Key Findings Both the meme and the X post disproportionately compared statistics on one of Ford's past car models to those of all models of present-day EVs manufactured by Tesla. The "232 Teslas blown up" number matches the tally on tesla-fire.com — an unofficial, nongovernmental website associated with a similar site called tesladeaths.com — whose owner gathered worldwide data on Tesla fire incidents between October 2013 through February 2024. According to the website (last updated in February 2024), 134 of the 232 Tesla-related fires occurred in the U.S., accounting for 70 of the 83 fatalities. We emailed the owner or owners of tesla-fire.com and tesladeaths.com to learn more about who they are and what their motivations were in creating the websites, and will update this story if we receive answers. Ford Pinto Key Findings On Sept. 11, 1970, Ford introduced the Pinto. Despite a promising introduction, the subcompact car model's reputation suffered a severe blow in subsequent years following highly publicized news coverage — including an investigation published by Mother Jones magazine in the summer of 1977 — about rear-end crashes resulting in fuel tank ruptures. Those fuel spills, once ignited, led to burn injuries and fatalities for some drivers and passengers. Then, on June 9, 1978, The Associated Press reported details of a recall of "more than 1.5 million Ford Pinto and Mercury Bobcat passenger cars with potentially defective fuel systems." United Press International (UPI) also noted Ford redesigned fuel systems for 1977 and later-model vehicles, and that a 1977 Pinto "met federal safety requirements." In March 1980, a jury acquitted Ford in a criminal prosecution involving both the recall and the deaths of three women fatally burned in an Aug. 10, 1978, accident involving a 1973 Pinto. Ford ceased production of the Pinto on July 18, 1980. On the same day, UPI reported "more than 50 deaths" had occurred specifically involving the Pinto's fuel tank design. The 27 Pinto deaths cited by The Other 98% originated from a U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) report from May 1978. The report featured crash data about the Pinto and a renamed version of it called the Mercury Bobcat. The 27 fatalities specifically pertained to the years 1971 through 1976, involving 38 rear-end collisions ending in fuel tank damage. The report also mentioned an additional 24 people who sustained nonfatal injuries. The NHTSA report noted crash data from the U.S. Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) — a nationwide census of fatal and nonfatal accidents. NHTSA introduced FARS in 1975. The data in the report specifically looked at the 30-month period of 1975 through June 1977. FARS reported 1,417 Pinto-occupant deaths out of 1,626 total fatal and nonfatal accidents, broadly due to all possible causes. Thirty three of the 1,626 accidents involved fire, accounting for 41 of the 1,417 fatalities. Drilling down deeper, 17 of the 1,626 accidents involved both the rear-end collision problem and fire, leading to 11 of the 1,417 fatalities. (Other figures are available in the report on page 9. Page 16 also displays several key disclaimers about this data.) Pinto Versus Tesla With our additional research into crash data for the Pinto involving all possible causes, we chose to also conduct a year-by-year search for all Tesla vehicle incident documentation in the FARS census. Our search located information for 2013 through 2022 (for the U.S.), with 2022 being the most recent year for which raw data was available. According to the data, 321 total reported accidents involved Tesla vehicles, leading to 148 deaths. Thirty seven of those 321 accidents involved fires. Forty nine deaths occurred in the 37 fire-related accidents. (The tesladeaths.com website cited numerous news sources when logging different numbers for the same period: 100 fire-related Tesla incidents and 29 deaths.) Since we were not able to easily compare the total number of Pintos and Teslas driving on the road, we turned instead to sales figures, the next best option. The NHTSA report said Ford sold over 2.2 million Pintos for the years 1971 through 1976. Meanwhile, Tesla sold over 5.8 million vehicles between 2008 and early 2024. Summary The Other 98% published a meme disproportionately comparing U.S. fire-related fatality numbers for a discontinued car model from the 1970s to worldwide figures for all models sold in the present day by an EV manufacturer. The meme's author called the Pinto a supposed "joke" and asked why consumers "don't even hear one thing about it [Tesla comparisons]." In our research, we noted that the labeling of the Pinto as a joke appears to be based on a misconception. In 1990, UCLA law professor Gary T. Schwartz authored an investigation titled, "The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case." Rutgers Law Review published the work. Schwartz wrote, in part, "The strong claim that the Pinto was a firetrap entails a misconception. To be sure, the Pinto did contain a design problem that was non-trivial and to some extent distinctive. Even so, the number of fatalities that resulted from that design problem is a minor fraction of the fatality estimates relied on by those who present the 'firetrap' characterization. Moreover, when all vehicle fire fatalities are considered, the Pinto turns out to have been less dangerous than the average subcompact and only slightly more dangerous than the average car." Ford's official Ford Performance blog celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Pinto in September 2021. The authors wrote that the car model "is all-too-often remembered mostly as 'a car fire waiting to happen,' due to some highly publicized fuel-tank fires in rear-end collisions of early models, and several subsequent fatalities." They also said the Pinto was the first car "killed by the media, who had a veritable field day with sensationalist crash reports after Ford become involved in criminal litigation." Regarding the safety of Teslas, in 2023, the automotive resource Kelly Blue Book (KBB) published the findings of a study conducted by The Guardian, writing, "Novelty can mislead you. The media tends to report on rare and new things because things that are common and old aren't very newsworthy. But a few news stories can make an idea — forgive us — catch fire when there isn't any data to support it." The report said the study revealed EVs "are less likely to catch fire than gas-powered cars." A separate study linked in the same article drew a similar conclusion. Sources "2 Killed in Fiery Tesla Crash in Pelham Manor." ABC7 New York, 3 Dec. 2024, https://abc7ny.com/post/2-killed-fiery-tesla-crash-pelham-manor-westchester-county/15619385/. "---." NewsBreak, News 12, 3 Dec. 2024, https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3699958674319-2-killed-in-fiery-tesla-crash-in-pelham-manor. "2 Killed in Fiery Tesla Crash in Pelham Manor, N.Y." CBS New York, 3 Dec. 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/video/2-killed-in-fiery-tesla-crash-in-pelham-manor-n-y/. "---." YouTube, CBS New York, 3 Dec. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3HDWa-7SsY. "Are Tesla's Self-Driving Cars Safe?" YouTube, 60 Minutes Australia, 12 May 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcHtagqxPkI. Bagi, Norm, and John M. Clor. "Pinto Stampede Rolls Into Dearborn to Mark Subcompact's 50th Birthday." Ford Performance, 8 Sept. 2021, https://performance.ford.com/enthusiasts/newsroom/2021/09/pinto-stampede-.html. "Car Defects Found." Newspapers.com, The Leader-Post via The Associated Press, 10 May 1978, https://www.newspapers.com/image/496308425/. Carroll, Felix. "What Were We Thinking?" Newspapers.com, Dayton Daily News via Albany Times Union, 1 Apr. 2004, https://www.newspapers.com/image/411250048/. Dowie, Mark. "Pinto Madness." Mother Jones, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1977/09/pinto-madness/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2024. Edwards, Jeff. "2 Killed In Fiery Single-Car Tesla Crash In Pelham Manor." Patch.com, 3 Dec. 2024, https://patch.com/new-york/pelham/tesla-bursts-flames-after-fiery-crash-pelham-manor. El-Bawab, Nadine, and Ivan Pereira. "3 Teens Dead, 1 Person Seriously Injured in California Cybertruck Crash." Good Morning America, 30 Nov. 2024, https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/3-dead-1-injured-california-cybertruck-crash-116303040. "Elon Musk's Crash Course: Update INTRO." 60 Minutes Australia, 12 May 2024, https://9now.nine.com.au/60-minutes/videos/latest/elon-musks-crash-course-update-intro/https:://9now.nine.com.au/videos/latest/elon-musks-crash-course-update-intro/clw32iqcx00090hmqc4ck9v48. Ernst, Kurt. "Misunderstood Cars: The Ford Pinto." Hemmings.com, 27 Aug. 2024, https://www.hemmings.com/stories/misunderstood-cars-the-ford-pinto/. "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)." NHTSA, https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars. "Ford Co. Recalls 1.5 Million Cars." Newspapers.com, 9 June 1978, https://www.newspapers.com/image/456396204/. "Ford Pinto Cars at End of Road." Newspapers.com, The Ottawa Citizen via United Press International, 18 July 1980, https://www.newspapers.com/image/463063149/. "Ford Pinto Explosion: Teen Awarded $128 Million." Newspapers.com, The Montreal Star via The Associated Press, 7 Feb. 1978, https://www.newspapers.com/image/743032049/. Fritz, Karen Clem. "Pinto Jury Votes Acquittal." The Washington Post, 13 Mar. 1980, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/03/14/pinto-jury-votes-acquittal/594b32ab-3b54-4b5e-bc52-96aa63d4f02c/. Gold, Aaron. "The History (and Tragedy) of the Ford Pinto: Everything You Need to Know." Motor Trends, 4 Apr. 2024, https://www.motortrend.com/features/ford-pinto/. "Government Issues Statement of Concern About Ford Pinto." Newspapers.com, Rutland Daily Herald via Times News Service, 9 May 1978, https://www.newspapers.com/image/610957734/. "Investigation Report, Phase I, C7 - 38, Alleged Fuel Tank and Filler Neck Damage in Rear-End Collision of Subcompact Passenger Cars." Autosafety.org, Office of Defects Investigation Enforcement, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, May 1978, https://www.autosafety.org/wp-content/uploads/import/ODIPinto.pdf. Jones, William H. "Ford Recalls 1.5 Million Small Cars.Ford Recalls 1.5 Million Pintos, Bobcats,Pintos, Bolcats Face Alteration To Cut Fire Risk." The Washington Post, 9 June 1978, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/06/10/ford-recalls-15-million-small-carsford-recalls-15-million-pintos-bobcatspintos-bolcats-face-alteration-to-cut-fire-risk/df5c2de7-fba3-404a-86ff-e7b180c13208/. Kuhl, Laura. "Gas vs. Electric Car Fires in 2024 (Shocking Stats)." AutoInsuranceEZ.com, 1 Sept. 2021, https://www.autoinsuranceez.com/gas-vs-electric-car-fires/. Lechtzin, Edward S. "Ford Denies Pinto Acts as Firetrap." Newspapers.Com, Syracuse Herald-Journal, 30 Aug. 1977, https://www.newspapers.com/image/1095008198/. Murray, Randall. "Criminal Action Urged against Ford Car Executives." Newspapers.Com, Sunday Call-Chronicle, 11 June 1978, https://www.newspapers.com/image/280051882/. Nedelea, Andrei. "Study: Hybrids, ICE Cars Far More Likely Than EVs To Catch Fire." InsideEVs, 18 Jan. 2022, https://insideevs.com/news/561549/study-evs-smallest-fire-risk/. "NHTSA File Downloads." NHTSA, https://www.nhtsa.gov/file-downloads?p=nhtsa/downloads/FARS/. "Pinto's Probers Study Toyotas for Fire Hazards." Newspapers.com, The Orlando Sentinel via United Press International, 15 Nov. 1980, https://www.newspapers.com/image/226708597/. Propper, David. "Tesla Bursts into Flames after Crashing in Posh New York Suburb, Killing 2 Occupants." The New York Post, 4 Dec. 2024, https://nypost.com/2024/12/03/us-news/tesla-bursts-into-flames-after-crashing-in-posh-new-york-suburb-killing-2-occupants/. "Records of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA]." National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/416.html. Rivera, Alexandra. "Two Dead after Tesla Crash and Fire in Pelham Manor." Yahoo News, Rockland/Westchester Journal News, 3 Dec. 2024, https://www.yahoo.com/news/two-dead-tesla-crash-fire-170615843.html. Schwartz, Gary L. "The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case." Rutgers Law Review, 1990, https://web.archive.org/web/20151114074624/https://perishablepundit.com/docs/The_Myth_of_the_Ford_Pinto_Case.pdf. Stahl, Lesley. "Tesla CEO Elon Musk: The 2018 60 Minutes Interview." CBS News, 9 Dec. 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-the-2018-60-minutes-interview/. Swenson, Ali. "Elon Musk Has Often Inflamed Politically Tense Moments, Raising Worries for the US Election." The Associated Press, 16 Sept. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-x-election-voting-trump-misinformation-3479f2348f6ec47ce641ddf20fd6ce4e. "Tesla Sales, Production & Revenue Statistics." Tridens, https://tridenstechnology.com/tesla-sales-statistics/. TeslaDeaths.com." Every Tesla Accident Resulting in Death, https://www.tesladeaths.com/. "Tesla-Fire.com." All Reported Tesla Fires, https://www.tesla-fire.com/. Tucker, Sean. "Report: EVs Less Likely to Catch Fire Than Gas-Powered Cars." Kelley Blue Book, 24 Nov. 2023, https://www.kbb.com/car-news/report-evs-less-likely-to-catch-fire-than-gas-powered-cars/. ---. "Study: Electric Vehicles Involved in Fewest Car Fires." Kelley Blue Book, 28 Jan. 2022, https://www.kbb.com/car-news/study-electric-vehicles-involved-in-fewest-car-fires/. Welber, Bobby. "2 Killed After Tesla Catches Fire In Hudson Valley, New York." Hudson Valley Post, 5 Dec. 2024, https://hudsonvalleypost.com/2-killed-after-tesla-catches-fire-in-hudson-valley-new-york/.