Pinto Case Bottom Line vs. Customer Needs and Safety The Facts In early 1968, a decision was made at Ford Motor Company to enter the small car market to compete against foreign competitors. Lee Iacocca, a future company President, wanted the new vehicle, called a Pinto, to be in showrooms by the 1971 model introductions. This would mean that it would be the shortest production planning period in automotive history at that time. Due to the extremely tight timeline, many processes for building the
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need to submit a one-page summary of the following readings: Hoffman, D. (2004) ‘The Ford Pinto’, in Gini, A. (ed.) Case Studies in Business Ethics (5th edn.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, pp. 222 - 228. Kelman, S. ‘Cost-Benefit Analysis: An Ethical Critique’ and Leonard, H. & Zeckhauser, R. ‘Cost-Benefit Analysis Defended’ in Hoffman et al. (2001) Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality, New York: McGraw-Hill, pp 104-116. Class Discussion: A. Egoism
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In the article, Ford Pinto Fuel-Fed Fires, “the Center for Auto Safety petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall Ford Pintos due to defects in the design of the strap on the gas tank which made it susceptible to leakage and fire in low to moderate speed collisions,” (Ford), clarifies the conception that improvements are indefinite. Not in this case, “Mark Dowie of Mother Jones Magazine, published documentation that Ford Motor Company was aware of the weakness in the
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same mistake as Ford Motor Company; The Ford Pinto Case. Ford Pinto is a car that was associated with fuel-fed crash fires. In the early 1970’s this compact vehicle showed a likelihood of catching fire when hit from behind at low speeds. (20mph). Ford needed to make a decision. Its car was in compliance with industry standards, so no laws were broken. But Ford’s own research had proved the car was deadly. Being aware of design problems with the pinto that made it more susceptible to crash related
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Volkswagen. Although the automobile preproduction process usually takes three and a half years, Ford made it within two years from designing phase to releasing to the market. Market seemed to be impressed by Ford, but it did not go last that long. Pinto had a critical problem that its fuel tank cannot withstand any rear-impact over 20mph speed. The fuel tank would rupture and cause fire. Moreover, Ford’s directors and their engineers already realized this issue and the potential number of people would
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The first option, to do nothing, is very risky. Although most bomb threats to schools are just a hoax, the price that will be paid if there is an actual bomb, namely human life, is too high to quantify. This is similar to the Ford Pinto case, where after a cost-benefit analysis, they decided the cost of fixing the death traps outweighed the benefits. In looking at this scenario, lawsuits would occur if there was an actual bomb. There would be no way to avoid them because everyone would know the school
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exactly what the Ford Motor Company did when assessing the cost vs. the benefits concerning their faulty production of the Ford Pinto. It had been found that the fuel bladder was not installed in the correct place so that when this vehicle was struck from behind it caused leakage. This leakage could then result in the car combusting and causing harm and in worse case scenarios death. This “ glitch” was something that the company was well aware of before the car actually went into production.
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ethical dimension in the current global environment. Study and apply major normative ethical theories to business situations. Understand the relevance of stakeholders to business decisions. Improve ethical and moral decision-making processes. Analyze case studies that present ethical business dilemmas. Understand moral, amoral, and immoral decisions in business situations. Encourage ethical behavior and professionalism in all activities. Prerequisites There are no prerequisites for this course.
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uncompromising: "The Pinto was not to weigh an ounce over 2,000 pounds and not cost a cent over $2,000." During design and production, however, crash tests revealed a serious defect in the gas tank. In crashes over 25 miles per hour, the gas tank always ruptured. To correct it would have required changing and strengthening the design. Many studies of reports and documents done by Mother Jones on rear-end collisions involving Pintos reveal that if you ran into that Pinto you were following at
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1. Identify five Relevant Facts * At its time of release, the Pinto met the required standards. * I received field reports suggesting Pintos were susceptible to “exploding” in rear-end collisions at speeds under 25 miles per hour. * Last year in San Bernardino, California a neighbor of 13 year old Richard Grimshaw’s gas tank ruptured, causing the car to burst into flames. The neighbor did not die from impact, but was killed in the fire. Grimshaw suffered third-degree burns over 90 percent
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