Nader Was Right !
The early Corvairs (pre 1965) had a SERIOUS suspension design defect ~ ask anyone who's ever driven one .
Most American cars have " understeer " ~ this means you have to turn the steering wheel a lot to make it tip in to a turn .
The Corvair had " oversteer " much like most European cars , this means it darted into turns and this , coupled with the rear wheels tendency to tuck in until you were riding on the sidewall , made them easily spin out at best
and flip upside down at worst 
.
If they'd sold it as a Sports Car , the folks who bought them would have been ready for this but selling them as cheap family haulers , made for troubles and GM did a cost to loss survey and decided it was cheaper to pay the occasional death lawsuit that is was to make the simple fix necessary.....
That's the unvarnished truth of the matter and yes , I still love Corvairs , especially those early models as they handled how I personally , think every car should handle but i'd not let my Sweet drive one .
Not even a beautiful Lakewood Station Wagon..... (only one year of these gusee why)
BTW : Ralph Nader was & is a nutball , he was just right this one time .
The early Corvairs (pre 1965) had a SERIOUS suspension design defect ~ ask anyone who's ever driven one .
Most American cars have " understeer " ~ this means you have to turn the steering wheel a lot to make it tip in to a turn .
The Corvair had " oversteer " much like most European cars , this means it darted into turns and this , coupled with the rear wheels tendency to tuck in until you were riding on the sidewall , made them easily spin out at best
and flip upside down at worst .If they'd sold it as a Sports Car , the folks who bought them would have been ready for this but selling them as cheap family haulers , made for troubles and GM did a cost to loss survey and decided it was cheaper to pay the occasional death lawsuit that is was to make the simple fix necessary.....
That's the unvarnished truth of the matter and yes , I still love Corvairs , especially those early models as they handled how I personally , think every car should handle but i'd not let my Sweet drive one .
Not even a beautiful Lakewood Station Wagon..... (only one year of these gusee why)
BTW : Ralph Nader was & is a nutball , he was just right this one time .
