Case Review #1: Ford Pinto 1.) FACTS • Ford was aware of gas tank defects on their Pinto model • Ford ignored the safety concerns, positing “safety doesn’t sell” (p. 66) • Ford based their decision off a cost-benefit analysis o Determined the “cost” of trunk alterations outweighed the “cost” of enhanced safety • There were over 40 incidents involving Pinto passengers dying or being severely maimed 2.) ETHICAL ISSUES • Is it morally right to sell a car with known, potentially fatal, defects
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The Ford Pinto Case The Ford Pinto Case was a very controversial moment in Ford’s history. They were struggling to keep up with the ever rising imports of Japanese auto manufacturers that were being produced and sold at a rate that was light years ahead of the industry. Ford had to come up with a solution and they had to do it fast. Their answer, the Ford Pinto, a car that was great on gas, easy to produce, and could be sold at an astonishingly low price. Ford’s answer to the car market demands
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president of Ford at that time, Lee Iacocca, recognized the market potential for this design of vehicles; he then led the designing of Ford’s first subcompact model car, namely Pinto on the year 1968. Due to the competition from various domestic and international automobile companies, Ford was influenced to accelerate the production of their first subcompact car. After for only 25 months of designing and manufacturing of the vehicle instead of a typical time frame of 43 months, Ford Pinto first debuted
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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
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Ford Motor Company Pinto Case Karen Nollet, Alonso Miller, Michael Morra, Pamela Tenori MGT/216 Abstract In 1971, Ford Motor Company (FMC), on the advice of then vice-president Lee Iacocca, introduced the first subcompact vehicle, the Ford Pinto.
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Ford Pinto: An Ethical Inferno Michael W. Daniels Excelsior College Introduction and Analysis “Pinto crashes caused the death and mutilation of 900 occupants after their cars burst into flames after rear-end collisions,” Robert Sherefkin explains in his article Lee Iacocca's Pinto: A fiery failure. The engineered design of the Ford Pintos resulted in the gas tank rupturing in low speed rear end collisions. The design flaw was recognized early in the Ford Pinto’s production. According
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June 2014 The Ford Pinto Case from a Utilitarian Perspective “Utilitarianism adopts a teleological approach to ethics and claims that actions are to be judged by their consequences” (DeGeorge 44). When looking at an decision from this view, we are to be impartial that decisions are not right or wrong by themselves, but also that we must analyze the results to determine if actions are good or bad. We know that Ford became more completive in the subcompact market from the Pinto sold in 1971 thru
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-1The Ford Pinto case is an oft-cited example of business ethics gone wrong. Many people have been appalled by Ford’s lack of concern for human life. Ford rushed its production time to produce the Pinto in order to be able to compete with foreign companies that were monopolising the American small-car market in the 1960s. Before production, however, the Ford engineers discovered that there was a major flaw with the Pinto: in nearly all rear-end crash tests the car’s gas tank would burst into flames
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According to the case study the ford pinto company knew that they sell faulty cars to their customers and due to their sales it has led to the death of their customers. The company ford pinto knew that the way they manufacture cars was in the wrong place and they kept it as secret Ford knew that the cars they produced had lots of issues concerning the safety and this was involved in the rear where the gas pump was at. This has led thousands dead. The ford company knew about the problem before distributing
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Melinda Hall Instructor C. Whitfield Business Ethics-MGMT-368D Dropbox #3 Kant June 19, 2013 On Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724 near the Baltic Sea in Konigsberg which is now Kaliningrad and a part of Russia. Kant’s father was a harness maker at a time when harness making was in decline and as such his family dealt with financial struggles, but were never destitute. His parents were Pietist, evangelical Lutherans, who “emphasized conversion, reliance on divine
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