When the ford recall department performed their own crash test of the pinto after field reports had come in, they discovered that the average speed at which the pinto's fuel tank was likely to rupture in a rear-end collision was miles per hour. during this same crash test, ford discovered that two comparable, non-ford vehicles' fuel tanks were likely to rupture in rear-end collisions at an average speed of miles per hour. at the time of this crash test, the average rupture speed for rear-end collisions in the entire automobile industry was miles per hour. if ford decided to recall the pinto, their calculated cost for the recall campaign was million dollars.