29. Ford Pinto
In the 1970s, most domestic car manufacturers addressed the changing market climate and the rising popularity of compact cars with several homegrown models. However, most drivers consider all of them to be bad. One of those cars is the Ford Pinto that debuted in the early ’70s. The Pinto was popular due to its low price, reasonably nice design, and a long list of options. Ford equipped it with economical four and six-cylinder engines, and the overall quality of the car was decent.

So what was the problem? While engineering the car, Ford “forgot” to add protection to its rear-mounted fuel tank. The fuel tank was below the trunk and just behind the rear bumper. In most models, there is a strong cross-member to protect the fuel tank in the case of a crash. However, the Pinto lacked this feature. Sadly, that became apparent when people started getting killed in fiery crashes due to the leaking fuel tanks. The families of the people who were killed or hurt in such incidents sued Ford. Eventually, the company spent millions to settle all the cases.