Ford Pinto Case The humankind history has probably never known one completely successful product - a product that would never break down or malfunction. "The ideal product is a myth because in reality, there has been and always will be mistakes and flaws in the technology and production. When there are only a small percentage of defective pieces, it is easy to blame the individual product. It is when there is repetitive malfunction of the same system under the same conditions that people begin
car market that was beginning to be dominated by the smaller, cheaper cars from Japan. The answer Ford came up with has now become synonymous with one of the most debated cases in ethics; production of the Ford Pinto. In this paper we will take a look at Ford’s decision to produce the Pinto under the scope of Utilitarian ethics and ultimately review the lingering question did the ends justify the means? I implore you as the reader to keep an open mind and let the analysis of this case play out before
The pinto fire case was one the most controversial cases in the 1970’s. This case focused on the fatalities that occurred because of the fuel tank of a Ford Pinto. The design of this vehicle was flawed and there was a significant risk of rupturing the fuel tank. This case was brought up when three teenage girls died because of the ruptured fuel tank of the 1973 Pinto. The pinto fire case addressed many ethical issues, it addressed many product safety questions, and it addressed the cost-benefit analysis
Bus/Phil 186-07 Professional and Business Ethics Spring ‘15/Dr. Williamson February 23, 2015 The Ford Pinto Companies that ignore the safety of their consumers in order to push a product to meet its deadline while saving some money are acting immorally. Ford knew their new automobile, the Pinto, had serious consequences to human welfare, yet ignored it and sold the product as is anyway. The Pinto did not meet the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s proposed standard for rear-impact collisions
The tragic death of the Ulrich sisters and their cousin in their 1973 Ford Pinto, led to the first time an American corporation had been charged for a criminal crime in a court case. Even though the women were involved in a rear-end collision, it was believed that a flaw in the vehicle, a gas tank rupture, was the cause of their deaths. After District Attorney Michael Cosentino presented his argument, a grand jury returned a criminal homicide charge, indicting the Ford Company for three counts of
I can recall when my older sister in the 70’s had purchased a shiny new Ford Pinto and pulled it into the driveway. She used at that time what she thought was her best judgment along with an economical price but only to be succumbed by our Dad when he realized what she purchased. Ford Motor Company in the late 60’s were being overtaken by other countries car manufactures in the subcompact market. The Volkswagen Beetle was still formidable, and the VW Rabbit was on the drawing board. Datsun and Toyota
Case Analysis: Pinto Fires Introduction Greed is the root to evil or at least the motivation behind some corporations making a good, ethical decision. The Ford Motor Company fell into a trap of greed that would cost many human lives. Before the disaster of the Pinto Fires, Ford had a reputation as being the safety pioneer in the automobile industry with additions such as the seat belts. However, as the invention of small cars began to take emerge Ford began to loose market shares to the foreign
Set to debut in 1970, the Pinto was Ford’s first attempt in the subcompact car market. The Pinto was a simple, fuel efficient vehicle and performed well against its foreign competitors. Not soon after the Pinto’s release, complaints concerning the car’s rear-end catching fire began to trickle into Ford. After an evaluation of the Pinto, Ford was unable to find a consistent pattern pertaining to the complaints and the topic was dismissed. What brought the Pinto into the public realm was the highly
planning for the Ford Pinto in the summer of 1967. It was approved by Ford’s Board of Directors in January 1969 and hit the market on September 11, 1970 under the tagline The Little Carefree Car. (Wikipedia—“Ford Pinto”) The vehicle was built as a response to subcompact car imports that were popular with consumers of the time. Ford President Lee Iacocca directed the organization to produce a 1971 model that weighed less than 2,000 pounds and cost less than $2,000. The Ford Pinto came to be known inside
(The Ford Pinto) There was strong competition for Ford in the American small-car market from Volkswagen and several Japanese companies in the 1960’s. To fight the competition, Ford rushed its newest car the Pinto into production in much less time than is usually required to develop a car. The regular time to produce an automobile is 43 months but Ford took 25 months only (Satchi, L., 2005). Although Ford had access to a new design which would decrease the possibility of the Ford Pinto from exploding
The Ford Pinto was first introduced in 1971 and built through 1980, by the Ford Motor Company. The little carefree car became a focus of a major scandal when it was alleged that the car's design permitted its fuel tank to be undoubtedly damaged in the event of a rear-end collision. (Ford Pinto) This flaw resulted in deadly fires and explosions through early production of the model. A number of critics have claimed that the Ford Motor Company acted unethically in producing the Ford Pinto; knowing
design of the Ford Pinto. Ford professionals would have to adapt the passenger cars to meet greater federal safety standards. In testing during production, collision reports ensured design flaws. In which the fuel tank would rupture in a crash above 25mph and at the same time the front doors would usually jam shut, the vehicle would explode with occupants still inside. Internal documents show that eleven of the tests averaging thirty one miles per hour were performed before the Pinto went into production
repair the defective fuel tank that posed a great danger to the people driving or riding in the Pinto (Leggett, 1999). In this analysis, if the fuel tank was not repaired and an explosion occurred in case the Pinto was involved in a collision, the organization would have observed losses and the shareholders. Other people who would be affected if the fuel explodes will be the customers who ride the Ford Pinto vehicles. The The first step that Ford would have undertaken was to ask the cars back and redesign
automobile was named the Ford Pinto and would grow to become its biggest-selling subcompact vehicle (Mark Dowie, 1977, p. 2). Back in the mid-1960s, Ford’s then president had been involved in a collision that resulted in his car’s fuel tank bursting into flames (Mark Dowie, 1977, p. 1). With this occurrence, one would have imagined that the company would become aware of the fuel tank danger associated with collisions, however the reverse was the case. The new Pinto had been fitted with a fuel tank
“Ford Pinto Fires Case” is a case study written by Dennis A. Gioia. Dennis was one of the Ford’s vehicle recall coordinator during the time when Pinto fire problem occurred. Pinto is a one of the subcompact car of Ford which came into the market during 1970’s. This paper focuses on why “Ford Pinto Fire Accident” which took lives of three people occurred. Background The Ford Pinto Fire Case took place in Goshen, Indiana on August 10, 1978. It was 1973 Ford Pinto model. Three teenagers were driving
“Legal and Ethical Analysis of the Ford Pinto” For mankind communication has been a very important issue and with that transportation has also rose to prominence. Not so long ago we were aided by a new invention due to the innovation of a few workaholics and the automobile industry. Along with the Japanese rivals Ford is one of leading companies in the world and run by a family, which controls the major shares in the company. But the company’s fate and history has not been free of controversy and
Facts Around 1967 Ford Motor Company decided to design a small size car called the Ford Pinto. The automobile industry at the time (and still is) was highly competitive and very cyclical. In the late 1960's, America began to see the influences of foreign vehicles. Prior to that, cars were bigger and less fuel efficient, allowing the Japanese to gain substantial market share with the smaller, more economical vehicles, and the need to react to this pressure was even greater at Ford. Even though
stockholders and the American public to design and manufacture an inexpensive and efficient compact car to compete with other similar vehicles such as the Volkswagen Beetle and Chevrolet Vega. In response, Ford Motor Company began designing the Ford Pinto, a two-door subcompact car that would take only 25 months to engineer, as opposed to the industry average of 43. Furthermore, engineers discovered during the pre-production phase that “rear-end collisions would rupture the Pinto’s fuel system extremely
the Ford Pinto case. When gas prices were rising in the United States, people started to search for economical cars. Fords president wanted to make a car that fitted the American demands, so he made the Pinto which had the price of 12,000 dollars in todays capital measurement. Everything was set, and Ford made some tests, and that is when the company realized that the design placed the gas tank in a vulnerable place. Now, we all know that no car is one hundred percent safe, but the Pinto unwillingly
The Ford Pinto Case Evaluating the Ford Pinto Case by taking an ethical approach, makes judging the decisions made on a cost-benefit analysis difficult. Cost-benefit analysis puts a price on human life and compares it to the cost of a something else. To judge this case, a look at separate consequences must be made, weighing the good and bad results of an action on everyone affected by it (DeGeorge, 2010, p. 44). Ford’s production of the Pinto was not done in an illegal manner. However, Ford