Safety Engineering Case Study

844 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Does weight affect the distance travelled by a vehicle

The goal to design a car that weighs 400kg, which is relatively light, will have a disadvantage during accidents with a regular car in that it will almost always experience the greater impact. In addition, due to the car’s limited weight and size, it is difficult to implement extensive safety systems, such as more airbags, automatic breaking, infrared night vision, emergency break assist … These safety issues triggered ethical questions that will be answered below. 1- Are the fundamental responsibilities of safety engineers compromised? I believe it is the safety engineers’ responsibility to put the safety of a car as a priority rather than its weight and gas consumption, since people expect a car in the market is designed to be safe, yet this …show more content…

Therefore, it is the company’s responsibility and duty to inform the public about safety issues that come with lightweight cars, and leave the people with the freedom to choose whether or not they buy this product. Even though this process might decrease sales, however; the company’s superiors must put themselves in a position where someone offered them a product without informing them of their dangerous sides and refuse to do things to others what they refuse to be done on themselves. Sustainable development (SD) is defined in the Brundtland Report as “development that meets the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Wikipedia, May 2014). According to this definition, there are different views to what a sustainable car is – should the car be recyclable, or lightweight, or should it not be built in the first place in order to be sustainable? (Missy Cummings, 2006). The questions and answers below might interpret whether or not a lightweight car is sustainable. 1- Are engineers ethically obligated to consider sustainability in their

Show More
Related

  • Ethical Dilemmas In The Automotive Industry

    336 Words  | 1 Pages

    Since the industrial revolution, the field of engineering has allowed society to flourish through the development of technological advances at an exponential rate. Similar to other professionals, engineers are tasked with making ethical decisions, especially during the production and distribution processes of new inventions. One field that has encountered ethical dilemmas since its inception is the automotive industry. Today, the dawn of the autonomous, self-driving, vehicle is upon us. In this new-age mode of transportation, humans will be less responsible for decisions made on the road. With the wide adoption of autonomous vehicles, there exist a possibility to reduce traffic-related accidents. Even though computers have the ability

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Safety In Unsafe At Any Speed By Ralph Nader

    1879 Words  | 4 Pages

    What makes you love the car that you drive in? Could it be multiple factors such as the color, the amount of miles you get per gallon, the number of people that can fit into it, or even how much storage it has? Buying a car makes you feel like a new person, the ability to transport from one place to another and getting to places a lot quicker than the train or bus makes life a lot easier. But does buying a car mean you’re technically safe from the all the dangers that the road ahead brings to you? The one thing that people don’t look for in a car is the amount of safety that car gives to you and every person that drives in. In the book Unsafe At Any Speed, author Ralph Nader discusses the dangers that automobiles not only bring to people that are driving within the car but he also discusses the dangers that the cars bring to the environment.

    Read More

  • The Debated and Hated SUV

    2257 Words  | 5 Pages

    The desire for self-preservation is present in all people; this is why SUV safety is such a huge issue. “Ask a typic...

    Read More

  • Article Analysis: Challenges Facing The Trucking Industry

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    Several measures have been put in place to try and control safety concerns. The leading areas of concern is poor working conditions for drivers, driver exhaustion, hour of service, drivers shortages, fuels prices, driver

    Read More

  • Car Technology of European and American Cars

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    "MOTOR INDUSTRY: TRIO OF EUROPEAN CARS TOP CAR SAFETY LIST." European Report. N.p., 3 June 1998. Web.

    Read More

  • Car Safety: An Essay Summary: Automobile Safety

    1956 Words  | 4 Pages

    Automobiles have been around for well over a century now. I think the most impressive thing about cars in today’s world is the safety features that come with the cars. Think about how much testing goes into making one car. There is seriously so many things that companies have to take into consideration when building a new automobile to assure that it is safe enough for the consumers.

    Read More

  • Traffic Safety

    4612 Words  | 10 Pages

    ...ture a risk-taking species. In ancient times we took risks just to eat. Later we took huge risks by setting out in little wooden ships to explore the earth's surface. We continued as we sought to fly, travel faster than the speed of sound and to head off into space. We rely on increasingly more complex equipment and constantly strive to design and manufacture faster and even more elaborate devices. It goes without saying that every effort is made to ensure our "safety"; to keep us from harm or danger. Every time you slide behind the wheel of your vehicle you are taking a risk. Driving is the riskiest activity in our lives. It is an inherently "unsafe" environment. The most perfect vehicles on the best designed highways on beautiful sunny days driven by fallible human beings crash into each other. The only way to drive "safely" (as we are all admonished to do!) is to learn more about the process. Learn more about your vehicle and how to maintain it; learn how to use your eyes to look far down the road; learn to spot problems before they happen; and also learn to deal with emergency situations. In most cases it's the human element that fails. After all, safe is only as safe does.

    Read More

  • Car Safety

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    For all these features any car can still crash so this report aims to make you more aware of the safety aspects of modern cars and what role they play in driving.

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Self Driving Cars

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    It might be hard to see where the self-driving car could have issues with safety but an interesting question arises when an accident is unavoidable. The question posed is “How should the car be programmed to act in the event of an unavoidable accident? Should it minimize the loss of life, even if it means sacrificing the occupants, or should it protect the occupants at all costs? Should it choose between these extremes at random?” (ArXiv). This is a very interesting question surrounding ethics. I’m not sure if there is a right answer to the question, which could stall the self-driving car industry. Before self-driving cars are mass produced a solution needs to be found to the question about unavoidable accidents. Although this question is a problem, there may not be a need to address the problem. It is said that “"driver error is believed to be the main reason behind over 90 percent of all crashes" with drunk driving, distracted drivers, failure to remain in one lane and falling to yield the right of way the main causes.” (Keating). Self-driving cars could eliminate those problems entirely and maybe with all cars on the road being self-driving cars, there would be no “unavoidable accidents”. Safety is the main issue the self-driving car is trying to solve in transportation and seems to do a good job at

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Seatbelts

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    One issue with accidents is that some people consider seatbelts cause accidents while others think they prevent accidents. Creating a debate over the how accidents happen. People who believe accidents are caused by seatbelts state that when the driver is wearing a seatbelt they feel like they can not move around making them drive at high speeds and changing lanes quickly. This has an outcome of accidents and ev...

    Read More

  • Case Study: What Is Body In White (BIW)

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    Crashworthiness is the term used to measure a vehicle’s performance under impact conditions. A good design will be neither too strong (in which case the occupant would undergo very high acceleration) nor too weak (in which case the vehicle would absorb too little energy and not protect the occupant compartment from deformation). On the other hand, in term of mass, low mass is desirable for performance (acceleration and handling), fuel economy, and material

    Read More

  • Using the Laws of Physics to Decrease Car Collisions

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every year, thousands of people lose their lives in car crashes. There are many factors that come into play when a car collision occurs, however only one factor stays constant throughout every single collision, and that is the laws of physics. The laws of physics are the fundamental base of understanding the world we live in, but unfortunately many people seem to be completely oblivious to them. A lot of the time, we try to deny our ignorance to physics but usually end up proving the opposite. For example, how believable is it that someone could have any knowledge of the physics in cars and have a pet and their lap while driving? Or even worse; a child sitting in the front seat not strapped to a seat belt. These are all situations that take place and spark questions and conversations about how people think, however, the real focus should be on why the laws of physics are important to the “era of the automobiles”. Every year people die in car crashes, but every year, that number decreases. With every year that passes by, we gain more knowledge about how to prevent those life-taking events from taking place, and we do that through accident reconstruction specialists. These are the people that dedicate their hard work and knowledge of physics and mechanics to be able to develop the safest environment possible within a car, in hopes of decreasing the amount of damage done during a collision. The results that the accident reconstruction specialists produce are very helpful for the manufacturers and engineers that are designing the new systems in cars. Now, to further elaborate on the physics behind car crashes, it all starts with newtons laws.

    Read More

  • Automotive Ethics

    2581 Words  | 6 Pages

    Automotive ethics is a subject that is often over looked. Not many people tend to look at what is ethical in the automotive industry; most people are generally satisfied if they can get a good deal on a car. However, in reality, automotive ethics has an affect on how automobiles are made, what regulations the government puts on them, and their hazard on the environment. Before the engine was invented, life revolved around a much more complicated system of transportation. Much advancement in technology has been made to make the common lifestyle today much easier; a few examples are cellular telephones and onboard navigation systems in automobiles. Cellular telephones and navigation systems have become an everyday item, but nobody looks at the dangers that can have while operating a motor vehicle.

    Read More

  • Essay On Safety Management System

    1387 Words  | 3 Pages

    Safety management system is organized structure of providing safety to an organization. Since the first aircraft flew, there have always been efforts on improving the capabilities. Safety and the reliability are the two major aspects among a lot more features that are to be developed. Safety in a department can be achieved and maintained by introducing different practices that in turn promote safety. SMS is one such structure which in an organization will look over some of the following; Introduction to basic Human Factors, The Dirty Dozen, Combating Complacency etc. SMS in a company is always hungry for information to update and to make the staff aware of the situations. The best source for this information is the people working in the organization. Here are the four pillars essentially, which form the basic structure of any management system.

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Menace Essay

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    These days, a great menace looms the road. Spread all across the world, these menaces have wreaked havoc against anything in their way. This menace is the car. This force has destroyed all in its path, including man, animal, planet, and even others of its own kind. When faced with the realization of the horrors of this machine, it becomes obvious that this force must be stopped.

    Read More

More about Safety Engineering Case Study

Open Document