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Ford Pinto Analysis

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Submitted By dcspear2004
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A paper I wrote for my business ethics class, not particularly a particularly creative or exciting assignment but I wanted to show some of my more formal writing.)

When Ford began development of the Pinto in 1968, the company hoped that the car’s smaller size and price tag would help it compete with Japanese and German competition, who were mounting their takeover of the subcompact auto market. Ford president Lee Iacocca wanted the Pinto to be less than 2,000 pounds and less than $2,000 so it could stand out when released into a division of automobiles Ford did not have much experience in. In order to get the Pinto released as soon as possible, the design and manufacturing process was cut from three and a half years down to two.

While testing the Pinto, it became apparent that due to the gas tank in the car was at great risk for fire hazard when struck from the rear, even at low speeds. The necessary improvements to make the Pinto safer were not complex or costly; they simply needed a barrier between the gas tank and the bumper of the car, which meant an added $5 to $8 to produce each car. To prevent the gas tank leaking during rollovers, another $11 would have to be spent on production. Ford was presented with a dilemma: to release the Pinto as scheduled and risk the safety of those who purchased it or spend more time designing the car, thereby seceding more of the subcompact auto market to the competition. After a cost-benefit analysis of the safety improvements and the potential death toll, Ford decided to release the model without the safety improvements. Their estimation showed that it was cheaper to ignore public safety. The release of the Pinto lead to an estimated 21 to 475 deaths that could have been prevented if the necessary safety features had been installed.

Act utilitarianism is part of the utilitarian theory, one of the most widely accepted ethical

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