This was back in the 1970s.

当时是二十世纪七十年代
Do you remember what the Ford Pinto was, a kind of car? Anybody?

还有人知道福特平托是什么车吗
It was a small car, subcompact car, very popular,

它是一种小型次紧凑型车风靡一时
but it had one problem,

但它有一个缺陷
which is the fuel tank was at the back of the car

油箱装在车的尾部
and in rear collisions, the fuel tank exploded

发生追尾时油箱就会爆炸
and some people were killed and some severely injured.

造成了严重伤亡
Victims of these injuries took Ford to court to sue.

受害者一纸诉状将福特告上了法庭
And in the court case, it turned out

案件审理中发现
that Ford had long since known about the vulnerable fuel tank

福特早就知道油箱的缺陷
and had done a cost-benefit analysis

还进行了成本效益分析
to determine whether it would be worth it to put in a special shield

来决定是否值得装上一面特殊的隔板