RALPH NADER SPEAKS ABOUT CORVAIR

[UNSAFE]

A short Nader video .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTnWMnLJqT8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BobWitt]

Kevin - where ya been? What have you been up to? Less snow there than in Washington???

Thanks for the video and welcome back...

[Allan Lacki]

Hi Kevin, Thanks for posting the Ralph Nader / CORSA Convention video. I wasn't aware that someone had recorded his speech at the CORSA Convention.

He was right about the heaters. I speak from personal experience. Back when I was a teenager and had no money for repairs, I had a '65 Corvair. It was a great car, but over time, it developed oil leaks and the heater began to stink and would occasionally blow smoke into the interior. I think it was just oil smoke, but it smelled bad. It was the reason I sold my first Corvair, way back in 1973. We were all aware of the potential for carbon monoxide poisoning back then.

Speaking of Ralph Nader, the following story is from"No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America", by Ralph Nader & Wesley Smith, p. 88, 1996. I'm surprised Nader didn't mention it during his speech at the Convention.

"John Petry drove his 1961 Corvair more than 100 miles a day for work. The Corvair's heating system was of a design that other manufacturers had long rejected: air used to cool the engine was diverted into the passenger compartment to provide heat. This allowed deadly carbon monoxide fumes to enter the car. As a result, Petry developed permanent brain damage. He sued GM on the grounds that the heating system was defective. GM settled, but as part of the deal required Petry to sell the company not only his entire case file, but also the car itself. It also required him to change the basis of Petry's original 1962 complaint from design defect, which could implicate all similar Corvairs, to a manufacturing defect, which could cover only Petry's car. As a result, information about the defective design of the Corvair's heating system was kept confidential for nearly a decade. "

Volkswagen introduced it's so-called "fresh air heating system" right around the time of the Petry suit. Prior to that, Volkswagens had a heating system much like the Corvair heating system where the heating air passed over the head gaskets, etc. The newer "fresh air" design consisted of heat exchangers wrapped around the exhaust pipes - not exactly a winning design either, but the air didn't circulate around any gaskets. Volkswagen's motive for improving the heater wasn't altruistic. It was the German and Swedish governments that required the change to be made.

You can read more about Volkswagen and Porsche "fresh air heaters" here:
http://www.corvair.org/chapters/lvcc/lv ... _wheel.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"