When US consumer Ralph Nader published his revolutionary attack on the auto industry Unsafe at Any Speed in 1965, his list of unsafe cars led with the Corvair, singled out for its known record of often-fatal ‘single vehicle’ accidents. Compounding the corporate irresponsibility evident in the design itself, Nader argued, was General Motors’s private knowledge of the car’s handling problems. He claimed that, for several wasted years, the company had refused to acknowledge the problem, instead blaming driver error, and had thus delayed installing vital suspension modifications.
Ironically, the Corvair had initially been launched to great acclaim – as a mid-sized compact alternative to the large US sedans that could win back sales from imported cars. The architecture of the Corvair was influenced by GM chief engineer Edward Coles’s admiration for the VW Beetle. Like the Beetle, the larger and sportier Corvair had a rear air-cooled engine and swing axles – a cheap form of independent rear suspension. Together, these brought the same treacherous handling characteristics of the Beetle, though the Corvair was a much faster and therefore also a much more dangerous car. In tight, fast bends, the wheels would tuck under the car, reducing rubber contact, and the engine-heavy rear would swing round ‘like a hammer on a string’, leaving the driver powerless to control it.
Between them, Nader and the Corvair launched consumerism and changed for ever the relationship between customer and manufacturer.
It all started out so well. The Corvair had lots going for it – sharper styling, smaller size, but the Volkswagen-influenced rear engine brought a sting in the tail.