Chevrolet Corvair
The Corvair was considered the most unsafe car ever built. Ralph Nader authored the book “Unsafe At Any Speed” about it. The Corvair was meant to be one of the best-performing cars on the road, but when it came down to it, the design was unproven. Even by modern standards, the Corvair is a beautiful car, but tits technological shortcomings gave the car a terrible reputation that caused its sales to tank (via Gold Eagle).
Although GM ironed out the kinks with the Corvair, by the end of its life cycle, the car was already marred in the public eye. There were far better vehicles on the road that offered much better performance for the price. The Corvair just didn’t stack up to the competition when it was put to the test of safety and reliability.