AUTOS

GM Trucks’ Fire Safety Record Ripped: An auto safety group said fuel tanks in some General Motors trucks are vulnerable to fires or explosions in side-impact crashes and have been involved in 10 times as many deaths as the much-maligned Ford Pinto. The nonprofit Center for Auto Safety estimated that more than 300 people have died in side-crash fires in GM trucks since 1973. Twenty-seven people died during the 1970s in fuel tank fires in the Pinto. “The Pinto is the milestone of gas tank defects,” said the center’s executive director, Clarence Ditlow. “And when something has 10 times as many fatalities as the Pinto, you know it’s terrible.” GM reiterated its position that the trucks meet federal safety standards and the safety needs of customers.