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Bias ply might actually be less inclined to induce rollover than a radial. The traction is lower, but the sidewall strength of bias ply is higher than a radial, more likely to stand up to the abuse. Hard to say.
I think the Corvair handling issue was real. They had a lot of weight back there, about 100lbs. more than the Beetle for example. I drove a 1960 Corvair once, went around a corner and the back end of the car felt like it lifted straight up in the air -- which it did! I wasn't really pushing the car or anything; it happened quite easily. I was happy to get out of that car in one piece, and never drove it again.
As others have mentioned Chevy fixed it in subsequent models, plus there's a kit available that ties the hubs together from underneath and prevents them from swinging excessively. But even with that you have a car with a *very* strong tendency to oversteer, which is not something most people instinctively know how to counteract. Understeer is easy to deal with, just steer more. But 'counter-steering' is counter-intuitive. Toss in the effects of lifting off the throttle during an oversteering event and you pretty much have a recipe for a wreck.
I despise Ralph Nader. He cooked the numbers to make them look as favorable to his desired result as possible. For example in his VW book he put the beetle at the top of a list of cars that broke people's legs in front end collisions. In fact it was the 10th car on the list; he simply chopped off the first 9. His books were hatchet jobs, not science. That said, the safety movement that resulted has done a lot of good for the population as a whole.
I still hate the guy though.
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