In October 1973, it broke out the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, best known as the "Yom Kippur War" because the Arab countries enemy of Israel took advantage of the Yom Kippur ("Day of Expiation") holiday to launch a triple offensive against Israel. When the war seemed to go well for the Arabs because of the destruction of large numbers or Israeli warplanes, the U.S. resupplied the Israelis and made their losses good turning the outcome of the war to their favor.
The U.S. support of the Israelis in the Yom Kippur War infuriated the Arab oil producing countries who announced an oil embargo against the U.S. The price of crude oil went from 3 dollars per barrel to 12 dollars by the beginning of 1974. Since U.S. people were traditionally used to large cars consuming a lot of gas, since gas had always been cheap, a shortage of gas across the country quickly set in, An unexpected consequence of this gas shortage in the U.S., fuel-efficient cars of Japanese make began to become popular in the U.S., and it also forced the U.S. car industry to design smaller cars and fuel-efficient engines to compete with the Japanese car industry.
