Ford Pinto

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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 to ask the question." (Birch, et. al. 21) Who is at fault? Is it the production line error? Is it the engineer who designed it, or the person who developed the process? Ford Pinto is one of the examples of such repeated malfunction of a product, which led to death of many consumers.

In accordance with the case, the American automobile industry was constantly challenged by the foreign car manufacturers in 1960-70s through offering better and yet cheaper cars. Another problem that was haunting the industry was the gas consumption, which, in the period of the Arab oil embargo in 1970s, became a really critical issue. The survival for the American automobile industry was in designing and building of subcompact cars which would be affordable for masses, consuming as less gas as possible. Such car for the Ford Motor Company became Ford Pinto that was presented to public in September of 1970.

Since competition between domestic automobile manufacturers was very intense, the Ford Motors Company decided to build Ford Pinto in only 25 month versus normal 43 months. The General Manager of Ford Pinto project, Lee Iacocca, was so obsessed with the idea of creating an affordable car and winning the market, that he specifically set a certain goal...

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...ography:

Birch, et. al. "The Ford Pinto Case: A Study in Applied Ethics, Business, and Technology", Boston: McGraw Hill, 1994

Mallor, et. al. "Business Law and the Regulatory Environment", 11th edition, Boston: McGraw Hill, 2001

Mark Dowie. "Pinto Madness" Mother Jones (Sept. 1977): 38 pars. 28 Sept. 1977 http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1977/09/dowie.html

Ford Pinto Case: Valuation of Life as it Applies to the Negligence - Efficiency Argument, Christopher Leggett, 1999 University of Illinois. Spring 1999

http://www.sprynewmedia.com/clients/wakeforest/Papers/1999/Leggett-pinto.html

Velasquez, Manuel G. Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002

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