February 8, 1993 – GM sues NBC for defamation over exploding gas tanks
On November 17, 1992, NBC’s Dateline aired a segment about the dangerous positioning of gas tanks in 1973 to 1987 GM pickup trucks. The show contained a fiery crash test, demonstrating that when hit in a certain manner the tank could rupture and explode. Following an investigation by General Motors, the company filed a lawsuit on this day in 1993, suing NBC for defamation.
The suit claimed NBC producers staged the test, using remote controlled model rocket engines placed in the fuel tank to ignite the crashes. Just two days after the lawsuit was filed, NBC issued a public apology on air as part of a settlement, acknowledging that they did not inform the viewership of any sort of tampering with the vehicles.
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The gas tanks of Chevrolet and GMC C/K serie...
