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Pinto Case

In: Business and Management

Submitted By nashnemo
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1. What moral issues does the Pinto case raise?

I think Pinto case raised some serious issue of abusing human rights and not behaving ethically in the world of business. Any business/service should never ever put a value on human life and not take consideration of a known deadly danger. Ford had an option as well as the solution to design the car in a way that prevented cars from exploding; however they refused to implement it. They thought that it was cost effective not to fix dangerous condition than to spend the money to save people in spite of the fact that the only added cost was $ 11 per vehicle.

2. Suppose Ford officials were asked to justify their decision. What moral principles do you think they would invoke? Assess Ford’s handling of the Pinto from the perspective of each of the moral theories discussed in this chapter.

I think Ford officials would invoke the principles of utilitarianism. They claimed that they used cost benefit strictly based on data provided by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA). Moreover Ford also quantified a human life as a commodity at cost of approximately $ 200,000. As per their analysis, the $49.5 million benefits and $137.5 million cost suggested that Ford implementation of safety improvements would totally outweighed their benefits.

3. Utilitarian’s would say that jeopardizing motorists does not by itself make Ford’s action morally objectionable. The only morally relevant matter is whether Ford gave equal consideration to the interests of each affected party. Do you think Ford did this?

I don’t think Ford gave an equal consideration to the interest of each affect party. The case has clearly mentioned that during the preproduction crash test, engineers had already figured out the potential danger of ruptured fuel tank. However, they decided to stick with the original design and rushed Pinto

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