Ford Pinto -- Case Analysis
On August 10, 1978 a group composed of three young women, two were eighteen and one was sixteen, were the subject of a rear end automobile accident by another vehicle while driving in a 1973 Ford Pinto (Epstein, 1980). The car was engulfed in flames due to an explosion in the gas tank of the car and the three young women lost their lives in a horrific manner. This represents one example of a trend that was recognized to be associated with the Ford Pinto manufactured during a range of production years. The design of the Pinto was arguably constructed with a faulty fuel system that caused the case tank to explode on a rear end collision in the car.
It has also been argued that Ford actually had sufficient evidence that the design was a problem before so many people lost their lives. Ford had actually conducted a cost benefit analysis that factored items such as the cost of fixing the fuel system problem on existing cars compared to the estimated legal costs associated with the lawsuits that were directed at Ford due to the unneeded loss of human life. The part that was identified that could have rectified the design flaw was a relatively inexpensive part that was in the neighborhood of ten dollars or less. Ford decided that it would be more advantageous for them financially to run the risks associated with legal settlements than it would be to retrofit the poorly designed fuel systems.
Discussion
The Ford Pinto case serves as a classical example of how financial considerations can sometimes overcome the considerations of what would generally be considered to be ethical behaviors. For example, Ford did not exactly consider the costs of human life. Instead they tried to estimate the costs that the company would incur...
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