Ford Pinto was launched by Ford in 1971 and was among the best-selling subcompact cars in the U.S. during its production time. But the car’s reputation took a severe hit after revelations that it could catch fire when involved in a rear end collision due to its defective fuel tank design. Ford executives knew about the faulty design, but decided to do nothing after estimating that paying off lawsuits was cheaper than re-engineering the car.Ultimately, the automaker ended up recalling more than a million of these cars and paying out millions in lawsuits.