Ralph Nader Museum Opens in Connecticut

The September 28, 2015 issue of The New Yorker has an article on Ralph Nader’s Tort Museum.

It is actually called the American Museum of Tort Law and it opened recently in Winsted, Connecticut.

The museum is the idea of the famous American consumer advocate and lawyer Ralph Nader who comes from there:

“Nader’s consumer-protection advocacy is the lifeblood of the museum. In the center of the museum sits a cherry-red Chevrolet Corvair, the car Nader disgraced in his 1965 book ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’.”(…)

“In an unfortunate irony for the museum, its building is located directly across the street from the local ambulance service and its fleet of ambulances. But during the opening, a group of E.M.T.s walked across the street with a copy of their training textbook for Mr. Nader to sign. ‘Why does a car door not fly open in a crash?’ one paragraph begins. ‘The answer is the Nader pin (named for Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate who lobbied for the device), a case-hardened pin in an automobile door. In a collision, the cams in the door locks grasp the pin to keep the door from flying open, preventing occupants from being thrown from the vehicle. All cars sold in the United States since 1966 have the Nader pin.’ He signed his name next to this paragraph and requested a copy for the museum.”

The Museum’s website has more news coverage of the opening. My rock goddess Patti Smith, a Nader fan, sang at the ceremony.

I can’t wait to visit the room of killer toys, featuring pointy lawn darts (I remember those).