"How do you double the value of a Yugo?"
"Fill up the gas tank."
"Yugo introduced a new anti-theft device. They made the badge bigger."
"Why does the Yugo have a rear window defroster?"
"To keep your hands warm as you push it."
The Yugo, sold in the United States from 1985 to 1992, has been the butt of a lot of jokes. When introduced, the Yugo was $3,990, the cheapest car on sale at the time; it soon found itself competing with better-quality economy cars that were only slightly more expensive, such as the Hyundai Excel, Volkswagen Fox, Ford Festiva, and Geo Metro. The Yugo was poorly reviewed, with Consumer Reports calling it "hard to recommend at any price". It was unreliable. It was unabashedly cheap.
The tiny body did not inspire much confidence in its safety. A Yugo was blown off the Mackinac Bridge on September 22, 1989, killing its driver; in the bridge's 62 year history, it is the only vehicle that has fallen from the bridge accidentally.
NHTSA crash tested the Yugo four times. Two of the tests were federally required compliance tests; a rear-impact on a 1986 model on Dec. 9, 1987 and a full-frontal impact on a 1988 on Sept. 23, 1987, both at 30 mph. A report wasn't available for the 1986 rear impact test, but it obviously met minimum standards. The full-frontal impact required the seat-belted dummies to have a head injury criterion of below 1000 and less than 60 G's on the chest; the driver had a HIC of 436 with 40 Chest G's, and the passenger a 291 HIC with 36 Chest G's. Sounds pretty good, right? Problems were already beginning to emerge: both doors were jammed, and the passenger's seat back failed.
The Yugo may have passed the federal standards, but its 35-mph full frontal performance was poor, although not the worst for its time. A 1986 met its end on Feb. 5, 1986, and with a HIC of 1,415 for the driver and 1,318 for the passenger, both front occupants probably would have experienced serious head injuries. (Chest G's were 59 for the driver, 38 for the passenger). Both doors were jammed and both seat backs failed.
During this era, NHTSA often re-tested failing vehicles the following year. A 1987 Yugo was tested in the same manner on Mar. 12, 1987. This time, the vehicle's performance was slightly better, overall; although the driver HIC was still very high at 1,855, the driver's chest G's were only 45, and the passenger's HIC was only 379 with 41 chest G's. In effect, the driver probably would have sustained severe, possibly fatal, injuries; the passenger would have likely walked away. Once again, both doors were jammed, but only the driver's seat back failed.
Combine that with the Yugo's petite 1,850 lb weight and you can see that the Yugo was not a very safe car, even for its time. However, it wasn't the worst death trap, either.
Although the Yugo's crash test performance was poor for the time, a number of vehicles performed worse in the NHTSA crash test.
If you would like to see the original test reports, they are in the NHTSA database; number 1074 for the 30-mph full frontal test and 896 and 999 for the 35-mph full frontal tests.
"Fill up the gas tank."
"Yugo introduced a new anti-theft device. They made the badge bigger."
"Why does the Yugo have a rear window defroster?"
"To keep your hands warm as you push it."
The Yugo, sold in the United States from 1985 to 1992, has been the butt of a lot of jokes. When introduced, the Yugo was $3,990, the cheapest car on sale at the time; it soon found itself competing with better-quality economy cars that were only slightly more expensive, such as the Hyundai Excel, Volkswagen Fox, Ford Festiva, and Geo Metro. The Yugo was poorly reviewed, with Consumer Reports calling it "hard to recommend at any price". It was unreliable. It was unabashedly cheap.
The tiny body did not inspire much confidence in its safety. A Yugo was blown off the Mackinac Bridge on September 22, 1989, killing its driver; in the bridge's 62 year history, it is the only vehicle that has fallen from the bridge accidentally.
NHTSA crash tested the Yugo four times. Two of the tests were federally required compliance tests; a rear-impact on a 1986 model on Dec. 9, 1987 and a full-frontal impact on a 1988 on Sept. 23, 1987, both at 30 mph. A report wasn't available for the 1986 rear impact test, but it obviously met minimum standards. The full-frontal impact required the seat-belted dummies to have a head injury criterion of below 1000 and less than 60 G's on the chest; the driver had a HIC of 436 with 40 Chest G's, and the passenger a 291 HIC with 36 Chest G's. Sounds pretty good, right? Problems were already beginning to emerge: both doors were jammed, and the passenger's seat back failed.
The Yugo may have passed the federal standards, but its 35-mph full frontal performance was poor, although not the worst for its time. A 1986 met its end on Feb. 5, 1986, and with a HIC of 1,415 for the driver and 1,318 for the passenger, both front occupants probably would have experienced serious head injuries. (Chest G's were 59 for the driver, 38 for the passenger). Both doors were jammed and both seat backs failed.
During this era, NHTSA often re-tested failing vehicles the following year. A 1987 Yugo was tested in the same manner on Mar. 12, 1987. This time, the vehicle's performance was slightly better, overall; although the driver HIC was still very high at 1,855, the driver's chest G's were only 45, and the passenger's HIC was only 379 with 41 chest G's. In effect, the driver probably would have sustained severe, possibly fatal, injuries; the passenger would have likely walked away. Once again, both doors were jammed, but only the driver's seat back failed.
Combine that with the Yugo's petite 1,850 lb weight and you can see that the Yugo was not a very safe car, even for its time. However, it wasn't the worst death trap, either.
Although the Yugo's crash test performance was poor for the time, a number of vehicles performed worse in the NHTSA crash test.
If you would like to see the original test reports, they are in the NHTSA database; number 1074 for the 30-mph full frontal test and 896 and 999 for the 35-mph full frontal tests.
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