...the Ford Motor Company sold cars in which it knew hundreds of people would needlessly burn to death.” Mark Dowie, Author of Pinto Madness (8) One of the biggest automotive news stories in the latter part of the 1970’s dealt with tales of exploding Ford Pintos and the considerable awards civil court juries were presenting to victims of accidents involving the cars. Ford produced the Pinto automobile from 1971 to 1980. Initially the car sold well, but a defect in the early models made Pintos prone to leaking fuel and catching on fire after relatively low-speed, rear-end collisions. The Pinto’s gas tank was located behind the rear axle. A rear-end collision of about 28 miles per hour or more would crush the car’s rear end, causing the tank to split and the filling pipe to break loose. It had been proven that spilled fuel and sparks from the crash caused fires that produced fatalities or serious burns. Was Ford aware of the potential problems in the framework of the Pinto? Was there an easy, inexpensive way to fix these problems? Was the Pinto fire controversy a lot of hype, or had Ford truly discounted human lives in order to save a few dollars? If Ford management really placed marketing considerations above safety, was that objective ethical and are members of management morally responsible for the preventable Pinto fire deaths? In the following paper, several sources will be used to enlighten the reader as to the controversy surrounding the Ford Pinto, facts...
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...THE FORD PINTO CASE The scandal and the trial On August 10, 1978, a tragic automobile accident occurred on U.S. Highway 33 near Goshen, Indiana. Sisters Judy and Lynn Ulrich (ages 18 and 16, respectively) and their cousin Donna Ulrich (age 18) were struck from the rear in their 1973 Ford Pinto by a van. The gas tank of the Pinto ruprured, the car burst into flames and the three teenagers were burned to death. Subsequently an Elkhart County grand jury returned a criminal homicide charge against Ford, the first ever against an American corporation. During the following 20-week trial, Judge Harold R. Staffeld advised the jury that Ford should be convicted of reckless homicide if it were shown that the company had engaged in “plain, conscious and unjustifiable disregard of harm that might result (from its actions) and the disregard involves a substantial deviation from acceptable standards of conduct”. The key phrase around which the trial hinged, of course, is “acceptable standards”. Did Ford knowingly and recklessly choose profit over safety in the design and placement of the Pinto's gas tank? Elkhart County prosecutor Michael A. Cosentino and chief Ford attorney James F. Neal battled dramatically over this issue in a rural Indiana courthouse. Meanwhile, American business anxiously awaited the verdict which could send warning ripples through board rooms across the nation concerning corporate responsibility and product liability. The Pinto controversy In 1977 the...
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...Case 10: Ford’s Pinto Fires: The Retrospective view of Ford’s Recall Coordinator Ford motor company, North America’s subcompact automobile company; design Pinto in 1971 in order to compete with fuel efficient Volkswagen and Japanese imports. Pinto’s major design flaw- a fuel tank prone to rupturing with moderate speed rear-end collisions- surfaced not too long after the Pinto’s entrance to the market. In April 1974, the Center for Auto Safety Administration (NHTSA) to recall Ford Pintos due to the fuel tank design defects. As a result of tests performed of NHTSA, as well as the extraordinary amount of publicity generated by the problem, Ford Motor Company agreed to recall Ford Pintos. Dennis A. Gioia was the field recall coordinator at Ford Motor Company as the Pinto fuel tank defect began unfolding. Gioia responsibilities include the operational coordination of all the current recall campaigns, tracking incoming information to identify developing problems, and reviewing field reports of alleged components failures that led to accidents. Business Ethics: In the Ford Pinto Case, what moral issues does the Pinto case raise? what is the dollar value of the human life.Business Ethics: In the Ford Pinto Case, what moralissues does the Pinto case raise? that a car that explodes when hit in the rear can be used to deliver mailBusiness Ethics: In theFord Pinto Case, what moral issues does the Pinto case raise?That businesses should not be putting a value on human life and disregard...
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...Pinto Fires and Personal Ethics: A Script Analysis of Missed Opportunities Dennis A. Cioia ABSTRACT. This article details the personal involvement of the author in the early stages of the infamous Pinto fire case. The paper first presents an insider account of the context and decision environment within which he failed to initiate an early recall of defective vehicles. A cognitive script analysis of the personal experience is then offered as an explanation of factors that led to a decision that now is commonly seen as a definitive study in unethical corporate behavior. IThe main analytical thesis is that script schemas that were guiding cognition and action at the time pre.cluded consideration of issues in ethical terms because the scripts did not include ethical dimensions. In the summer of 1972 I made one of those important tran.sitions in life, the significance of vifhich becomes obvious only in retrospect. I left academe with a BS in Engineering Science and an MBA to enter the world of big business. I joined Ford Motor Company at World Headquarters in Dearborn Michigan, fulfilling a long-standing dream to work in the heart of the auto industry. I felt confident that I was in the right place at the right time to make a Dennis A. Gioia is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Department of Management and Organization, The Smeal College ofBusiness Administration, Pennsylvania State University. Professor Cioia's primary research and writing focus of...
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...not quarrel over the importance of profits. But they do quarrel over whether or not business firms have obligations beyond making profits. A consumer may be a pet owner who feeds and provides care for a beloved animal, a doting grandparent who buys toys and clothes for the grandkids, an individual who wears contact lenses or hearing aids, a patient who buys prescription medications, or vehicle owner. Should a consumer have certain expectations from the suppliers and producers of the products that he buys? Can we trust corporations that they will not produce what will jeopardize the human life? Was Ford to be blame in the pinto case? Must we wait for the characters like “Erin Brokovich” to fight on behalf of the helpless consumers? Who is to be blamed for the McDonald’s hot coffee case-the producer, the consumer or the regulators? Almost thirty years has passed since the Pinto accidents and what followed from it. We still don’t know how “safe” a...
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...The Ford Pinto Case Team B Management 216 May 10, 2011 Ian Finley The Ford Pinto Case The horrific tragedy that took place on August 10, 1978 involving Judy Ann Ulrich, Lynn Marie, and Donna Ulrich was a real eye opener to a lot of consumers regarding the Ford Pinto. A van collided into the back of the young girl’s car causing the Pinto to collapse, the fuel tank to rupture, and the car to engulf into flames. Donna and Lynn Marie were trapped inside and suffered to death as a result of the combustion of the vehicle. Judy Ann was able to be extracted from the wreckage but passed away several hours later at a hospital. Two months prior to the casualty, Ford recalled all Pintos produced from 1971 to 1976 to repair their inadequate gas tanks. Ford only took the initiative for the recall after it was revealed that more than fifty people had died in Pinto-related collisions. With the introduction of the Ford Pinto, Ford’s desire for competition, led the company to overlook known construction flaws and their own moral code to endure higher profits. Lynne Marie and Donna Ulrich, along with Richard Grimshaw and the unidentified neighbor; how do you assign a value to a human life? According to the Ford Motor Representatives in the Ford Pinto Fires Case, it is quite simply done with a cost/benefits formula analysis. We’d like to believe that those lost are the only people that mattered, the people whom Ford Motor Company should have considered when they turned down a $137.5...
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...THE FORD PINTO CASE: THE VALUATION OF LIFE AS IT APPLIES TO THE NEGLIGENCE-EFFICIENCY ARGUMENT Christopher Leggett Law & Valuation Professor Palmiter Spring, 1999 Abstract Text of Paper Abstract The cases involving the explosion of Ford Pinto's due to a defective fuel system design led to the debate of many issues, most centering around the use by Ford of a cost-benefit analysis and the ethics surrounding its decision not to upgrade the fuel system based on this analysis. ISSUE Should a risk/benefit analysis be used in situations where a defect in design or manufacturing could lead to death or seriously bodily harm, such as in the Ford Pinto situation? RULE There are arguments both for and against such an analysis. It is an economically efficient method which has been accepted by courts for numerous years, however, juries may not always agree, so companies should take this into account. ANALYSIS Although Ford had access to a new design which would decrease the possibility of the Ford Pinto from exploding, the company chose not to implement the design, which would have cost $11 per car, even though it had done an analysis showing that the new design would result in 180 less deaths. The company defended itself on the grounds that it used the accepted risk/benefit analysis to determine if the monetary costs of making the change were greater than the societal benefit. Based on the numbers Ford used, the cost would have been $137 million versus the $49.5 million...
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...|[pic] |Syllabus | | |School of Business | | |MGT/216 Version 5 | | |Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility | Copyright © 2010, 2009, 2008 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course provides a foundational perspective for socially responsible management practices in business. Special emphasis is placed on the inter-related nature of ethics, moral, legal, and social issues in managing individuals, groups, and the organization within a business environment. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in...
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...Pinto Case Study Ford Motor Company launched the Pinto in August of 1970. This car was intended to compete with Volkswagen in the small car market. A tragic accident happen on August 10, 1978 in which three girls were killed. Two of the girls were sisters and the third was their cousin. The 1973 Ford Pinto was traveling on a highway when their car was struck from behind. The car burst into flames and all three teenagers were burned to death. Elkhart County prosecutor, Michael A. Cosentino took his case to the Elkhart County grand jury charging criminal homicide charges against Ford Motor Company. The trial was the first of its kind. The question was “Did Ford knowingly and recklessly choose to profit over safety in the design and placement of the Pinto’s gas tank?” (1) Cosentino was a part-time prosecutor with a $20,000 budget, some consultants working gratis and a task force of fired-up law school volunteers. (2) Ford had a former Watergate prosecutor with a million dollars to spend and legal team of 80 and all Ford’s resources at their disposal. Prosecutor Cosentino was driven by the fact that big companies are rarely phased by paying damage rewards and at that point criminal law should step in. Cosentino has to prove that Ford intentionally put a design out that was very dangerous. That Ford had the knowledge of the faulty design and recklessly chose profit over safety. Ford maintained that the Ford Pinto met the current safety standards for rear end crashes. Many...
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...Ford Pinto Case Study MGT/216 November 11, 2010 Executive Summary In the1960's, the American small-car industry had strong competition for Ford, Volkswagen and several Japanese companies. In order to battle their challengers, Ford expedited its most contemporary automobile, the Pinto, into manufacturing. Fabrication was completed in a smaller extent of time than is generally mandatory to generate an automobile. The expected time to produce a vehicle is forty-three months however Ford took no more than twenty- five months (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). While Ford had the opportunity to produce a new model that would decline the risk of the Ford Pinto from blowing up, the corporation selected not to execute the plan. This design expense would have a rate of $11 for each vehicle. A study demonstrated the innovative plan would have resulted in a reduced amount of 180 casualties. The corporation argued that they had utilized the traditional risk-benefit tests to decide if the financial expense of adjusting the modifications were larger than society’s shared benefit (Safety X Change, 2009). Ford relied on the figures; the cost would have been $137 million vs. the $49.5 million; a printed fee placed on the vehicle for damages, casualties and injuries. Three adolescent girls passed away in a 1973 Ford Pinto on August 10, 1978, after being impacted from the back by a driver in a small truck (University of Phoenix, 2007). The Ford Pinto was totally immersed in fire and the undesirable...
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...| Course Syllabus School of Business MGT/216 Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility | Copyright © 2010, 2009, 2008 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course provides a foundational perspective for socially responsible management practices in business. Special emphasis is placed on the inter-related nature of ethics, moral, legal, and social issues in managing individuals, groups, and the organization within a business environment. Policies Students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials DeGeorge, R. T. (2010). Business ethics (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (4th ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. All electronic materials are available on the student website. Week One: Fundamentals of Business Ethics | | Details | Due | Points | Objectives | 1.1 Differentiate between...
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...Identify the relevant facts of the Ford Pinto case: In 1970 Ford introduced the Pinto, a small car that was intended to compete with the then current challenge from European cars and the ominous presence on the horizon of Japanese manufacturers. The Pinto was brought from inception to production in the record time of approximately 25 months, where a normal car usually takes 43 months. This showed an expedited time frame for the Pinto. On top of time pressure the team was also required to follow a limit of 2000, that meaning it could not exceed $2000 in cost and it could not weight more than 2000lbs. When it came to routine crash testing of the Pinto, it was revealed that the Pinto’s fuel tank often ruptured when struck from the rear at a relatively low speed. This was because the fuel tank was positioned between the rear bumper and the rear axle, and when impact was made studs from the axle would puncture the fuel tank, spilling gasoline that could be ignited by the sparks. In crash testing 11 vehicles, 8 of the cars suffered potentially catastrophic gas tank ruptures. There were several possibilities for fixing the problem, but given the restrictions of limit of 2000, they made no changes. The most controversial reason for rejecting the production change was because of Ford’s cost-benefit analysis. Ford believed that the cost of rebuilding the Pinto to make it safer were far more expensive than the cost of life for each fatality. Due to schema, the Pinto was found okay to sell on the...
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... C. Focus on Integrity (Virtue Ethics) IV. Eight Steps to Sound Ethical Decision Making in Business A. Step One: Gather the Facts B. Step Two: Define the Ethical Issues C. Step Three: Identify the Affected Parties (the Stakeholders) D. Step Four: Identify the Consequences E. Step Five: Identify the Obligations F. Step Six: Consider Your Character and Integrity G. Step Seven: Think Creatively about Potential Actions H. Step Eight: Check Your Gut V. Practical Preventive Medicine A. Doing Your Homework B. When You’re Asked to Make a Snap Decision VI. Conclusion VII. Discussion Questions VIII. Exercise: Clarifying Your Values IX. Case: Pinto Fires Teaching Notes – Discussion Questions 1. If you had to choose just one of the philosophical approaches discussed in this chapter to guide your decision making, which would you choose? Why? Or, if you had to rank them from most to least helpful, how would you rank them? Probes to Stimulate Discussion "Think about your own ethical decision making. Do you already use any or all of these approaches? Separately or in combination?" "Consider looking into your religious background for guidance. For example, most religions...
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...Remember the Ford Pinto‚ the egg-shaped economy ride that sometimes exploded when struck from behind? Mark Robinson Does. He also remembers the look on the faces of the jurors who awarded $127 million to his client 13-year-old burn victim Richard Grimshaw‚ in 1978‚ based on a design flaw that led to the deaths of 27 people from fuel-tank fires in Pintos. The jurors were outraged to learn that the Ford Motor Co. became aware of the risks of passenger deaths in 1971 yet waited until 1976 to move the Pinto’s gas tank from behind the rear axle to a safer spot above the center of the axle. "Ford made a decision to place-money ahead of human lives‚" Robinson says‚ waving an Aug. 26‚ 1971‚ fuel system integrity memorandum. That damning piece of evidence advised Ford executives not to recall or re-design the Pinto "until required by law." Thirty years later‚ Robinson charges‚ little has changed. The automobile industry continues to place profits ahead of people‚ he says. In recent years‚ they’ve added a new weapon to their arsenal‚ according to the plaintiffs’ bar: protective orders granted by courts and genuflecting judges that keep corporate transgressions out of the public eye. Recently‚ aided by lawmakers‚ consumer groups and the media‚ plaintiffs’ lawyers have begun firing back‚ asking courts to let the sunshine in to cleanse dirty little secrets like those behind the Ford Pinto. The Colonel’s Secret Recipe and the formula for Coca Cola—the trade secrets on which corporate...
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...Firestone Case Study Robert Workman Jessica Jurkowski Michael Wilding Webster University Firestone Case Study BACKGROUND In 1900 Harvey S. Firestone established The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, the company started with 12 employees. They started out by supplying rubber tires for wagons and buggies. In the 1908 Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone formed a partnership with firestone supplying tires for the new model T this was a natural relationship because they had mutual friends. (Noggle and Palmer, 2005) Today Firestone is known as Bridgestone/Firestone after the two companies merged in 1990 for $2.6 billion. Today the company markets 8,000 different types and sizes of tires along with other products. Firestone has had a substantial history of scandals relating to tire safety In 1978 Firestone recalled 14.5 million tires—the largest tire recall at the time—after excess application of the adhesives binding the rubber and steel resulted in 500 tread separations and blowouts. The company was also fined $500,000 for concealing safety problems. ("e-businessethics.com") However in the late 90’s Firestone would be put into serious jeopardy and be threatened with going bankrupt. The Ford Motor Company was started by Henry Ford in 1903 in Dearborn, Michigan producing only a few cars a day. Ford was the first company to use assembly line production and has grown into one of the largest family run organizations in the world In 1999 Ford had a staff of 360,000 employees...
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