Very few people dislike Ralph Nader more than I do, but he deserves credit for a tremendous breakthrough: he, almost singlehandedly, established the precedent that manufacturers are financially responsible for the safe performance of their products. Aside from that, and it's a big aside, I can't really think of anything useful he accomplished.
    As far as the old Corvair went, it (like the VW Beetle) suffered from terminal oversteer. If you tried to drive it like you would a Buick, you were apt to find yourself being passed by the rear end of your car. Not a real problem if you knew what you were doing; a serious cause of one-car accidents if you didn't.