...believe I would do following the eight-step method to ethical decision making. The first step is identifying the relevant facts. In the Pinto Fires Case, I believe there are six large facts that are the most relevant to determining whether a recall is the appropriate course of action. The first fact is that Ford Motor Company discovered the issue before the Pinto was released. With many recalls, the issues are not discovered until after the products in question are released, but Ford knew about this major issue and released the car anyways. The second crucial fact builds off the previous one – Ford knew how to fix the issue. They had found three possible solutions through their testing, but did not implement any of them. The third relevant fact is that Ford had shortened their amount of preparation time to release it earlier. This was something that had never been done before, so the fact that they cut down the amount of time they were spending on preparing this car by over a year was a recipe for disaster. The fourth fact to consider is the fact that Ford Motor Company was within the legal standards at the time. While Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 301 had been proposed, it had not been adopted, so Ford’s move was legal. Furthermore as the fifth fact, in the 1970s, consumers were not nearly as concerned with safety. In fact, Ford had previously added a relatively costly safety feature only to find that it added no appeal to the consumers. The final fact is the fact...
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...Ford Pinto: A Study of Ethics In the 1960s Ford Motor Company, under pressure from stakeholders and the pressures involved in competing with the foreign vehicle market set out to manufacture a vehicle that was smaller, lighter and less expensive than the competition’s product. This vehicle was designed and moved into production within 2 years, much quicker than the 3 ½ year company norm and is still the shortest vehicle production planning schedule in history. The result: The Ford Pinto. While the Pinto was in the design phase it was decided that the fuel tank would be placed under the rear fender instead of over the rear axel to allow for more trunk room in the car. This design however, was quite flawed. The Pinto being smaller than the other American made cars was not built using the same frame design; a design that was manufactured to prevent the fuel tank from exploding upon a rear impact collision. Upon testing a serious defect was found with the placement of the fuel tank. It was determined that if the Pinto was involved in a rear end collision the fuel tank may rupture and burst into flames causing serious injury or death to the passengers. Team A will be examining the ethical dilemmas involved in the case and the solutions that we would recommend today and the solutions that would have been ethically appropriate in 1971. Lee Iacocca was the president of Ford Motor Company in 1971 and was the directive authority behind the creation of the Ford Pinto. He wanted a...
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...Managing Product Safety: the Ford Pinto Summary: 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. 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 they held the number two spot in market share behind General Motors, they only held a 22.3% market share compared to General Motors at 46.4%, a very significant difference. There was strong competition for Ford in the American small-car market from Volkswagen and several Japanesecompanies in the 1960's. In order for Ford to stay competitive and fight off competition, they rushed its newest car the Ford Pinto into production in much less time than is usually required to develop a car. The regular time to producean automobile was 43 months; Ford took only 38 months. Before production, the engineers at Ford discovered a major flaw in the cars' design. In nearly all rear-end crash test...
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...Under the leadership of Ford CEO Lee Lacocca, The Ford Pinto Company introduced in 1971 in Canada, and later in U.S, had reputation as being the safety pioneer in the automobile industry. But was trouble impending, the car did not pass on the test, meaning that it failed bellow the state of the art for cars of that size. The design of the car flaws in its Pinto model could cause the car to burst into flames even in minor rear-end collisions. At the time there was no National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rear-end impact standard. Understandably American automobiles were losing market share in the 1960’s due to cheaper Japanese imports. Smaller, cheaper, better gas mileage, and lighter all meant better value to the consumers. Competition is suppose to fuel innovation and help make better products with smilier or better value. In this case Lee Iaccoca did not make a better product. Iaccoca wanted to simply compete and with the Japanese imports. In 1971 The Ford Pinto was made and produced in a accelerated fashion, so it was designed and produced in 25 months rather than the 43 months that it should have taken. Truth to be told it was a decent design it weighed under 2000 pounds and it cost less then 2000 dollars. The only really down fall was the rear-end design the Pinto was not really tested for rear-end impact, and when Ford engineers testing the rear-end impact for standard safety procedure the car failed the test. To make matters worse the rear-end testing...
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...moral issues does the Pinto case raise? The moral issues about the Ford Pinto is that they take their profit is more important than human life. They also did not inform the consumer about the facts of the Pinto. Lastly, they also lobbied the safety of the car to lowest standard.The Pinto case brought up issue of abusing human rights and behaved unethically in business. Ford had the design to reduce the possibility of Ford Pinto from exploding. However, the company refused to implement it, although it can prevent 180 deaths from happening at a cost of $11 per car according to the cost-benefit analysis. I think Pinto case raised some serious issue of abusing human rights and not behaving ethically in the world of business. Any business/service should never ever put a value on human life and not take consideration of a known deadly danger. Ford had an option as well as the solution to design the car in a way that prevented cars from exploding; however they refused to implement it. They thought that it was cost effective not to fix dangerous condition than to spend the money to save people in spite of the fact that the only added cost was $ 11 per vehicle. Suppose Ford officials were asked to justify their decision. What moral principles do you think they would invoke? Assess Ford’s handling of the Pinto from the perspective of each of the moral theories discussed in this chapter. The Ford officials would probably invoke the principles of utilitarianism. Ford had claimed that the...
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...Running Head: CASE STUDY Case Study Team MGT/216 09/13/10 Teacher Abstract Take a step back into the past, 1971 to be exact, imagine being a proud new owner of a popular and affordable vehicle, the Pinto. The vehicle is perfect for the tight budgeted and built by a trusted company (Ford). Then the unexpected happens, it is in a rear end accident. Upon the accident the car explodes. Sounds like a bad dream, right! (See video link in PowerPoint presentation) The following discusses a similar story that will from here forward be in reference as the Pinto Case, in which Ford was accused of being at fault for selling a shoddy car to the public. Were they at fault? What was the ethical dilemma? What were the social pressures? All of this and more is here within in detail. Pinto Case Study When Ford Motor Company had to determine what action to take in regards to the pinto many considerations were made. The company had to decide whether to install a baffle on the Ford Pinto to prevent the possibility of a puncture in the gas tank by a bolt from the bumper. The issue was found during a test done after the car was in production and on sale in the U.S. The gas tank is in the back of the car. During a rear-end test it was found that if a car travels more than 20 miles per hour and is hit from behind it is possible that a bolt from the bumper can puncture the gas tank. This can cause an explosion. Ford had the choice...
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...flavor of a soft drink, or the safety of a vehicle, corporations must weigh benefits and risks when evaluating their products; and their products effect on consumers to produce a desirable bottom line. Ford is one company during the 1970’s many people consider put its bottom line before the safety of its consumers, thereby leading many people to question its business research and ethical practices. The controversy came about with the development of the Ford Pinto. The Ford Pinto was manufactured as a response to the overwhelming competition from Volkswagen, Toyota, and Datsun in the abundant small car market. Lee Iaccoca was the vice president for Ford Company during the development of the Ford Pinto, and was very influential in launching the project. He had the credit of the Ford Mustang to his name, and was involved with several other developmental projects throughout the company. Lee Iaccoca was not initially receptive to the idea of Ford competing in the small car market. The point was argued however that lower income customers would buy an affordable vehicle such as the Ford Pinto, and thereby increase the company’s chances the customer would eventually upgrade to a more profitable vehicle (cite pg 206). Lee Iaccoca eventually agreed and stated the Ford Pinto could cost no more than two-thousand dollars, and could weight no more than two-thousand pounds (cite pg 207). During this time of negotiations amongst Ford’s Board, the National Highway Traffic Safety...
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...The Ford Pinto Ethical Dilemma Written by Learning Team B; C. Riley, F. Foster, K. Jankoski, M. Riner, & R. Price Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility 16 Aug 2010 Paul A. Kramer The Ford Pinto Ethical Dilemma In this presentation, a very important case that transpired from 1971 to 1978 with the Ford Motor Company, under the leadership of Mr. Lee Iacocca, CEO will be explored. During that time the CEO of Ford wanted to manufacture a vehicle to keep up with the competition that was going on with other manufactures. The Ford Company experienced many tragic issues with this vehicle having to pay millions of dollars in lawsuits. This was due to their negligence in not following the proper inspection procedures. It will be observed how this company was affected by the ethical and unethical issues regarding the Ford Pinto along with Ford and the Department of Transportation being the blame for every accident that transpired for not following the normal inspection procedures. A comparison of utilitarianism, deontological and virtue ethics in whistle blowing will be discussed to display how any business today can experience the negative or positive effects of such behavior. The risk taken stirred up a lot of talk nationwide regarding Ford’s action. The question of discussion will focus on whether or not Ford was actually the total blame for each incident that took place. First a possible solution will be looked at for the situation if one was to find themselves...
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...Ford Pinto Case Study MGT/216 November 11, 2010 Executive Summary In the1960's, the American small-car industry had strong competition for Ford, Volkswagen and several Japanese companies. In order to battle their challengers, Ford expedited its most contemporary automobile, the Pinto, into manufacturing. Fabrication was completed in a smaller extent of time than is generally mandatory to generate an automobile. The expected time to produce a vehicle is forty-three months however Ford took no more than twenty- five months (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). While Ford had the opportunity to produce a new model that would decline the risk of the Ford Pinto from blowing up, the corporation selected not to execute the plan. This design expense would have a rate of $11 for each vehicle. A study demonstrated the innovative plan would have resulted in a reduced amount of 180 casualties. The corporation argued that they had utilized the traditional risk-benefit tests to decide if the financial expense of adjusting the modifications were larger than society’s shared benefit (Safety X Change, 2009). Ford relied on the figures; the cost would have been $137 million vs. the $49.5 million; a printed fee placed on the vehicle for damages, casualties and injuries. Three adolescent girls passed away in a 1973 Ford Pinto on August 10, 1978, after being impacted from the back by a driver in a small truck (University of Phoenix, 2007). The Ford Pinto was totally immersed in fire and the undesirable...
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...type of automobile, car manufacturers in United States of America started to manufacture their own subcompact cars. The current president of Ford at that time, Lee Iacocca, recognized the market potential for this design of vehicles; he then led the designing of Ford’s first subcompact model car, namely Pinto on the year 1968. Due to the competition from various domestic and international automobile companies, Ford was influenced to accelerate the production of their first subcompact car. After for only 25 months of designing and manufacturing of the vehicle instead of a typical time frame of 43 months, Ford Pinto first debuted into the automotive industry as a two-door sedan with the entry model price at $1850 and followed by a hatchback and wagon version of the car later in 1972. The short time frame of the car from being a conception to the production surely raised some doubt among the sceptical during that time. Nevertheless, Ford Motor Company was still eager to market the car since it was a trend at the time. During the first few years Ford Pinto was introduced to the world, the sales were remarkable. By January 1971, the Pinto had sold over 100,000 units and 352,402 for the entire 1971 production run. 1974 saw the most Pintos produced in a single model year with 544,209 units (“Ford Pinto,” 2015). However, during mid-1970’s, Ford Pinto was surrounded by numerous controversies due to several accidents involving the car. The first accident occurred in 1972 involving a Lily...
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...Ford Pinto Case In the 1970’s the Ford Pinto was debuted. It was debuted without regards to safety features and concern for society. The biggest concern regarding the role the company played was the concern for cutting costs and the hunger for making the biggest profit exceeding other competitors. Proper corporate morals and principles laid out to be followed were severally jeopardized with the release of this new model. The lack of interest for human life initiated dozens of lawsuits against Ford Motor Company which in the end resulted in a far larger cost than it would have been installing a simple, low cost, safety feature to prevent the loss of lives to come. Ford was struggling to keep up with competitors and there solution was the Ford Pinto. From the beginning Lee Iacocca, CEO of ford, wanted this new model to be designed and produced fast. This is documented when they state “they only had 25 months rather than the usual 43 months for a new car line” (DeGeorge 298). After development and before the car is released to the market the car must go through a range of tests to make sure the vehicle meets motor safety guidelines. Ford did not follow protocol and released the Ford Pinto without testing. It wasn’t until after the car was released that Ford decided to test the vehicle. It was then they found that the rear-end impact failed in accordance to the standard safety procedures even though there was no National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rear-end impact standard...
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...The Ford Pinto Case The Ford Pinto Case was a very controversial moment in Ford’s history. They were struggling to keep up with the ever rising imports of Japanese auto manufacturers that were being produced and sold at a rate that was light years ahead of the industry. Ford had to come up with a solution and they had to do it fast. Their answer, the Ford Pinto, a car that was great on gas, easy to produce, and could be sold at an astonishingly low price. Ford’s answer to the car market demands relied heavily on the success of the Ford Pinto. They had very little time to produce a car that was both good on gas and even better on the wallet. This is illustrated when they speak of the fact that they only had “25 months rather than the usual 43 months for a new car line” (DeGeorge 298). We often find ourselves in a pinch each and every day, with decisions that can only hang in limbo for a matter of moments. What happens when we do this, we often force ourselves to take shortcuts to reach the end result. I believe this holds true more often than not if we reflect upon these moments in our lives. This was no different than the case of Ford’s production of the Pinto. During the production of vehicles, they go through a series of steps beginning with prototype development. After prototype development and before the car is able to be released on the market, they must sustain a range of test to make sure the vehicle meets and is in accordance with all motor safety guidelines. Ford...
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...The Ford Pinto Case Back in the 1970s the Ford Pinto was debuted without regard to proper safety features and concern for proper ethics while producing this automobile. Buyers wanted lower pricing and bigger trunk space more than the consideration for safety. Lee Iacocca, president of Ford, ran the business striving for higher profits and cutting costs. His lack of interest for human life initiated many lawsuits against Ford and, in the end, was a far bigger cost than installing safety features in the Pinto in the beginning. The biggest concern regarding the role people played in the Ford Pinto case was the concern for cutting costs and making the biggest profits over the concern for human life. Severally jeopardized in this case were proper corporate morals and ethics. This started when Lee Iacocca acquired the position of president from the former President Semon Knudson. Lee Iacocca celebrated much success with the Mustang and wanted to market small cars to compete with the foreign car markets. Lee Iacocca drove to promote the Ford Pinto by 1971. Because it typically takes three and one-half years for the production of an automobile, to have the Ford Pinto to the showrooms by 1971, only left two years to launch the Ford Pinto. During the production process, crash tests revealed safety issues with the gas tank in the rear of the car. If the car were struck from behind even at a slow speed, the gas tank would rupture, and explode upon impact. Lee Iacocca’s decisions...
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...Identify the relevant facts of the Ford Pinto case: In 1970 Ford introduced the Pinto, a small car that was intended to compete with the then current challenge from European cars and the ominous presence on the horizon of Japanese manufacturers. The Pinto was brought from inception to production in the record time of approximately 25 months, where a normal car usually takes 43 months. This showed an expedited time frame for the Pinto. On top of time pressure the team was also required to follow a limit of 2000, that meaning it could not exceed $2000 in cost and it could not weight more than 2000lbs. When it came to routine crash testing of the Pinto, it was revealed that the Pinto’s fuel tank often ruptured when struck from the rear at a relatively low speed. This was because the fuel tank was positioned between the rear bumper and the rear axle, and when impact was made studs from the axle would puncture the fuel tank, spilling gasoline that could be ignited by the sparks. In crash testing 11 vehicles, 8 of the cars suffered potentially catastrophic gas tank ruptures. There were several possibilities for fixing the problem, but given the restrictions of limit of 2000, they made no changes. The most controversial reason for rejecting the production change was because of Ford’s cost-benefit analysis. Ford believed that the cost of rebuilding the Pinto to make it safer were far more expensive than the cost of life for each fatality. Due to schema, the Pinto was found okay to sell on the...
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...moral issues does the Pinto case raise? I think Pinto case raised some serious issue of abusing human rights and not behaving ethically in the world of business. Any business/service should never ever put a value on human life and not take consideration of a known deadly danger. Ford had an option as well as the solution to design the car in a way that prevented cars from exploding; however they refused to implement it. They thought that it was cost effective not to fix dangerous condition than to spend the money to save people in spite of the fact that the only added cost was $ 11 per vehicle. 2. Suppose Ford officials were asked to justify their decision. What moral principles do you think they would invoke? Assess Ford’s handling of the Pinto from the perspective of each of the moral theories discussed in this chapter. I think Ford officials would invoke the principles of utilitarianism. They claimed that they used cost benefit strictly based on data provided by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA). Moreover Ford also quantified a human life as a commodity at cost of approximately $ 200,000. As per their analysis, the $49.5 million benefits and $137.5 million cost suggested that Ford implementation of safety improvements would totally outweighed their benefits. 3. Utilitarian’s would say that jeopardizing motorists does not by itself make Ford’s action morally objectionable. The only morally relevant matter is whether Ford gave equal consideration...
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