WalMartian: Wasn't there also a fire problem with old Mazda Miata's?

Don't forget all the pickup trucks in the 70s-80s with the gas tanks behind the seats.

WalMartian: Wasn't there also a fire problem with old Mazda Miata's?

Don't forget all the pickup trucks in the 70s-80s with the gas tanks behind the seats.

The Miata has been like the greatest car Mazda ever made, or I should say one of their greatest selling cars. I don't think they had problems like that.

... the Fiero's fire problems were in the front of the vehicle, specifically the engine compartment. ....

Hmmm, I seem to remember the engine being in the back of my 4 cyl. Fiero

WalMartian: And Corvairs?

They just wouldn't stay on the road.

WalMartian: Wasn't there also a fire problem with old Mazda Miata's?

Don't forget all the pickup trucks in the 70s-80s with the gas tanks behind the seats.

I had a '72 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 that had the gas tank mounted under the passenger seat. No recall as far as I know, but those things were barely capable of highway speeds, and built like tanks, so probably less likelihood of fire/explosion.

Thegreaser: I love how they used the Pinto concept car for the photo in the article.

Thats what that was

First thought was -- that is not a pinto -- thought it was some model of Datsun or the Chevy Vega

also there were many more cars that had habits of bursting in to flames then those listed ( I am looking at you Chrysler with your electric fuel pumps )

The article gives me the impression the writer has never seen a car before

Thank you, MonkeyAngst, for the Schwartz-Study link for the Pinto.

Subby's article is loaded with crap "journalism," but I don't wanna bother taking the time to chew out the "automotive journalist" at the MNN site.

458 Italia? Burn, baby, burn!

What do they have in common?

The author has done no research on them before writing an article about them.

What made the Pinto such a big deal was The Pinto Memo. Essentially, it was a cost/benefit analysis that argued it would be cheaper to pay lawsuits from injuries than to retrofit the problem that led to the punctured gas tanks. It was leaked. Oops.

Rapmaster2000: What made the Pinto such a big deal was The Pinto Memo. Essentially, it was a cost/benefit analysis that argued it would be cheaper to pay lawsuits from injuries than to retrofit the problem that led to the punctured gas tanks. It was leaked. Oops.



/X was less than the cost of a recall.

What do the Pinto, the Volt, the Cooper, the Fiero, and the 458 Italia all have in common?

That is easy...the answer is: this.

FTA:

While some automotive fires may be random, other cars have been prone to catching on fire or even exploding - causing property damage and even lives.

The horror!

/Children in the back seat cause accidents - accidents in the back seat cause children?

WalMartian: And Corvairs?

They didn't have a fire problem. They'd swerve, flip over, explode, burn down, and sink into the swamp; but that was all.

//proud driver of one

This story is Over the Edge.

other cars have been prone to catching on fire or even exploding - causing property damage and even lives.


/especially in the back seat

My first car ever was a Pontiac Fiero. 87' Formula, 6 cyl. Loved that car, it made it to 3 out of the 4 corners of the United States. I once kicked it up to 125 mph and stayed there for a good 10 minutes driving home on I-65 at 2 am.

It was a freakin' bobshed on the ice though -- and since the engine was in the back, it tended to flip around when you hit a patch.

I believe the earliest Fieros were the fire hazards, and were also built as total pieces of crap. Right around 86, Pontiac brought in a kick-ass head mechanic project-guy that worked all of the issues out. Sadly, all of the old ones started catching fire and destroyed the repulation. As I understand it, anyway,

NightOwl2255: Railbird3: /Children in the back seat cause accidents - accidents in the back seat cause children?

Yes, they do.

My condolences :-/

Linoleum_Blownapart: Unlike the Pinto, the Fiero's fire problems were in the front of the vehicle, specifically the engine compartment.

If your Fiero engine is in the front, oil leaks aren't your biggest problem.

This! Dumbass author should know this.

Lsherm: Unlike the Pinto, the Fiero's fire problems were in the front of the vehicle, specifically the engine compartment.

Really?

Engine in the front?? Well, there's your problem....

They forgot this one.

Former Fiero owner here. The fire problem had a simple fix, which most people had installed by the dealer; I doubt if there was one on the road when I bought mine that didn't have it.

Mine was an '84. I loved that car, even though it couldn't get out of its own way. It didn't accelerate; it gathered speed. One of these days, I'm going to get one of the 6-cylinder ones. The handling was incredible, and it cornered like it was on rails. Well, except in snow. But now I live somewhere that isn't an issue, and Fieros rock. Even if the Fiero really is a Citation driving down the road backwards. :p

Worldwalker: Former Fiero owner here. The fire problem had a simple fix, which most people had installed by the dealer; I doubt if there was one on the road when I bought mine that didn't have it.

Mine was an '84. I loved that car, even though it couldn't get out of its own way. It didn't accelerate; it gathered speed. One of these days, I'm going to get one of the 6-cylinder ones. The handling was incredible, and it cornered like it was on rails. Well, except in snow. But now I live somewhere that isn't an issue, and Fieros rock. Even if the Fiero really is a Citation driving down the road backwards. :p

I had one too, first new car I ever bought. '86 4cyl 5spd. I autocrossed that car in G-stock for about 2 years until the Honda Quaalude came out and ran off with the class.

The "fiero engine fire" recall notice read like this (paraphrased) "We are replacing the oil filter with a larger unit, and the dipstick to reflect the addition of 1/2 quart to the engine oil volume of the vehicle". The explanation was "with the vehicle only having a engine oil volume of 4 quarts, it was too easy to run low on engine oil, spin a rod bearing, drop a rod, punch the rod through the engine block and spray oil over the hot exhaust manifold, causing a fire".

If you've punched a rod through the block, let the biatch die, already. Roast a farking marshmallow.

That said, the front suspension of the Fiero (until '88) was Chevette, and the rear was the entire front clip of a Citation, suspension and all, with the steering arms tied off to the frame. To autocross you put nasty stickies on the front and decent tires on the back, and popped the "quick removal" thermostat out. For it's weight (2400 lbs) it did pretty good. All the rice burners it ran against had a pretty flat power curve, but the iron block push rod motor in the Fiero had a wicked pull between 1800-3200. It red-lined where the Japanese cars were just getting started.

\I know, CSB

WalMartian: StopLurkListen: WalMartian: And Corvairs?

They didn't have a fire problem. They'd swerve, flip over, explode, burn down, and sink into the swamp; but that was all.

//proud driver of one

Yeah, I guess it was the stability issue I was thinking of. Cute cars, though.

Actually, the '65-'69 Corvairs had excellent handling; Chevy had replaced the evil swing axle with Corvette-style fully-independent rear suspension in the late-model version. Unfortunately, by that time, Ford had put fancy bodywork and a big engine in the Falcon and called it a Mustang. That did more to kill the Corvair than anything Nader did.

/learned to drive in a '68 Corvair

One good think I remember about driving a Pinto on the LA freeways...everyone gave you a wide berth

I thought we already answered this question....They're all going to be in the next Back to the Future movie as the time machine.

I need to comment since this is the second mention of the Fiero today. I still own one and I'm proud to say it. I had 3 at one point and will always love that car.

/3800sc in mine
//Yes from a GTP
///Faster then my friends LS1
////Moar slashies means more power

Lsherm: GoodyearPimp: No.

/owned an '86 GT

*Fistbump*

Fun car. Did surprisingly well in the snow, too. No room for a child seat and a wife, though, so the ex made me trade it in on a Nissan Stanza. :P

Lsherm: StopLurkListen: WalMartian: And Corvairs?

IIRC, they were air-cooled. Were they known for overheating?

Yes, they were air-cooled, and AFAIK they aren't susceptible to overheating any more than the average air-cooled engine.

DNRTFA or the comments but is it rolling fire hazard? I bet its discontinued rolling fire hazard.

Damn I miss my Fiero. 84 4-cyl, total piece of crap but SO much fun to drive... Only had one fire in the engine compartment, was able to get it put out before any damage. Biggest issue was the stupid starter solenoid would melt because it was so close to the exhaust manifold. And talk about one fun transmission to replace whoooo!

The Muthaship: WalMartian: Wasn't there also a fire problem with old Mazda Miata's?

Don't forget all the pickup trucks in the 70s-80s with the gas tanks behind the seats.

Which network planted the explosives in those for its gripping expose`?

/I can't remember
//Was Rather involved?

Dateline NBC. Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips. The segment was titled "Waiting to Explode".

More here.

Zasteva: Ummm... quite a lot actually -- they have wheels, engines, tires, seats, windshields...

Oh! You meant things they don't actually have in common with all automobiles....

hmmm.... how about:

Nothing.

You expect hard hitting journalism from the Mother Nature Network?

Why did they leave the 64-70 Mustang off the list? The Mustang cars have killed more people than the pinto and are still to this day. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/05/17/60ii/main47539.shtml

My first skip school/go to the creek/come home REALLY drunk experience was in an '86 Fiero.

/good time!
//still think about it when I hear Warrant "Cherry Pie"
///grounded for a week but totally worth it....

Mutiny32: I thought the NHTSA's investigation into the Volt fire led to the conclusion that it was actually a freak incident involving that specific vehicle and wasn't an engineering flaw as people had previously thought.

That should be very comforting.

*fistbump

Fiero owners represent yo!

I had three. An 84, an 85, and an 86 I dropped a 400 small block into just to see if I could. Holy mother of god, that was fun to drive.

How about a couple of more firestarters?

VW Beetle built prior to 1967-battery located under rear passenger seat would tip and short out. Worse on 6 volt systems.

VW Series III variants (411 and 412), fuel lines routed too close to exhaust manifold would deteriorate and leak.

Renault R5 (The LeCar), same problem as the VW. A friend of mine left his burning hulk in the middle of Beach Blvd.

i actually saw a fiero and a pinto today on the road.

Linoleum_Blownapart [TotalFark]

2012-06-01 10:30:29 AM

Unlike the Pinto, the Fiero's fire problems were in the front of the vehicle, specifically the engine compartment.

If your Fiero engine is in the front, oil leaks aren't your biggest problem.

Um..... I don't know what article YOU read, but this article says

Like the Pinto, the Fiero's fire problems were in the back of the vehicle, specifically the engine compartment.


/maybe they fixed it.

So they're lumping 1 incident later ruled out as a specific concern and a recall involving 4 incidents of thermal runaway and 0 injuries in with the farking *Pinto* ?

That's some sub-blog-level nonsense right there.

What I found out after I did it the hard way: To get the starter motor out of a Fiero, loosen up the motor mounts slightly and jack up the engine. Then you can take it right out. Not doing so, and sliding it around until it clears that rail, puts you at risk of dropping a rather heavy starter motor on your face. Just so you don't need to do this to find out: yes, it hurts.

Blink: My first car ever was a Pontiac Fiero. 87' Formula, 6 cyl.

The Formula was an '88-only model.

In '84, Detroit cranked out a defective batch of connecting rods, which went into the first 4-cyl Fieros. Rod fails, punches through the block, oil sprays on hot catalytic converter, there ya go - engine fire, right in the geographic center of the car. Not good.

Run out of defective connecting rods, run out of (the vast majority of) Fiero engine fires. Parking a low-slung car with a hot catalytic converter on tall, dry grass isn't too smart either, but that's not Fiero-specific. But the 'legend' lives on...

The '88 Fieros (finally) got the suspension the car was supposed to have all along (which was actually NOT designed by Lotus - Lotus had nothing to do with the process), but the first four years the car was made, the bean-counters made the designers raid the existing parts bins since it was sold as a 'commuter car'.

I've got two '88 Fieros - one 4-cyl Coupe (with 298,000 original miles on it) and a Formula with an Automoda convertible conversion on it, with 212,000 miles on it. Yes, I've driven to the moon and back in Fieros since 1990. Gonna be driving them until the day I die (if I'm lucky)...