Remember That Time 60 Minutes Faked An Auto Defect And Didn’t Apologize For It? – Looper

In the mid-1980s, drivers reported hundreds of crashes of Audi 5000 models while they were shifting out of park, resulting in six deaths. On November 23, 1986, “60 Minutes” aired a segment featuring interviews with drivers who had experienced so-called “sudden acceleration” along with footage of an Audi 5000 taking off spontaneously and crashing. However, according to The Wall Street Journal (via Manhattan Institute), “a self-styled expert [had] drilled a hole in an Audi transmission and pumped in air at high pressure. Viewers didn’t see the drill or the pump—just the doctored car blasting off like a rocket.”

The incidents were eventually found to be a result of the driver pressing the accelerator while thinking they were pressing the brake pedal. Even so, Audi’s sales tanked in the years that followed (per The New York Times). Despite the fallout and the fact that no manufacturing defect was ever identified or blamed for the hundreds of crashes (though some suggested the pedals were placed too close together), “60 Minutes” has yet to issue an apology for doctoring its test vehicle and faking a mechanical failure. And while this one misstep doesn’t erase all the fine journalism the show has been responsible for over the past 55 years, it certainly does remain as a dark stain on the otherwise stellar reputation of “60 Minutes.”