How NBC Exposed a Serious Problem with GM Products

01 Jun 2017

It’s pretty obvious that fake news is common today. Such culprits are CNN, Fox News, And in this case, Dateline. Now, Dateline is known to report news, but we all know them for their murder cases and the famous “To Catch a Predator” (Well, except for those IIHS segments that I like to binge watch on YouTube) But on November 17, 1992, They aired a segment that involved Chevrolet and GMC’s C/K series pickup trucks, produced between the years 1973 through 1987, and the “Sidesaddle fuel tanks”. This name comes from how the gas tanks were positioned in the sides of the bed. The segment focused on allegations that the gas tank could explode if impacted from the side by another car. The footage showed the truck being hit from the side by a Citation, causing the truck to explode. The episode was titled “Waiting to Explode”.

The footage was shocking, but fake.

The footage was later discovered to be rigged by producers of the show, who placed remote-controlled rocket engines inside the truck’s fuel tank to cause the explosion. Dateline did not say that the footage was faked. After the episode aired, GM hired investigators from Failure Analysis Associates to study the footage. The FAA found that gasoline actually began to expel from the fuel tank six frames before
the car hit. The FAA searched though 22 junkyards until they found the charred remains of the truck used in the episode. It was also revealed that Dateline had been dishonest about the speed of the car that hit. They claimed that the Citation was going around 30 MPH, but it was revealed to be 40 MPH. After X-Ray examination, the FAA discovered that the gas tank never ruptured like Dateline stated. But this whole concept didn’t just pop up out of nowhere, in fact over 2,000 people were either burned or killed in crashes involving C/K pickup trucks and their fuel tanks between 1973 and 2009. On December 8, 1992, NHTSA announced they would investigate the explosions. After these explosions were discovered and released to the public, GM was hit with several lawsuits from people who were involved in accidents involving the trucks. According to the NHTSA recall website, in 1999 a 1986 C10 caught fire as the owner and his 71 year old father were inside. He claims the truck was very dependable, well maintained and was in excellent condition. But This doesn’t just involve C/K trucks, either.

In the late 90s, six people were injured after their 1979 Malibu was rear ended, causing the car to explode. Just aging? Just an old rust bucket? No. GM knew about the problem since they designed the car. They sued and won 1.2 billion.

These accidents could have been prevented with a $23 fix.

Personally, I like the look of these older C/K trucks, and my grandpa even owns one, a 1985 Custom Deluxe, bought brand new, but these trucks had a serious problem, and sure cars like the Pinto and Grand Cherokee had the same problem, but this one was worse. The C/K model was made for such a long time, and these trucks were so popular, meaning that many bought them. Many didn’t know about the problem, or the fix, and even worse, GM knew about it since the truck was released. There is no real “moral” like I was hoping for, except for the following:

If you are a car company, ACKNOWLEDGE the fact that your cars are defective. Do anything you can to fix the defect. If you don’t, people potentially die, and you get MANY lawsuits.
If you find out that your car is defective, take it to the dealer that fixes that problem. It doesn’t matter if “It costs money”, or “It’s too much time consuming”, do it. It could save your life.
Don’t wreck or get hit in a 70s GM product.