In the summer of 1978 three teenagers, Judy Ulrich along with her sister Lynn Ulrich and their cousin Donna Ulrich were tragically killed in an auto accident. The vehicle they were driving in a 1973 Ford Pint burst into flames along the U.S. Highway 33 near Goshen, Indiana. The death of these young girls along with many others brought the debate of the Ford Pinto’s faulty gas tank placement to a climax. The Ford Motor Company in 1968 introduced the Pinto an affordable compact car that could compete with the foreign car companies.
This ultimately led to an extraordinary court case in which the Ford Motor Company was indicted with reckless homicide and was the first corporation charged with criminal conduct.