Ford felt it could not spend any money on improving the gas tank. h. During the late 1960's and early 1970's American consumers demonstrated little concern for safety. i.
One Ford engineer, when asked about the dangerous gas tank said, "Safety isn't the issue, trunk space is" J. Most controversial reason for not making adjustments, Ford and the auto industry convinced NHTSA regulators that cost/benefit analysis would be an appropriate ases for determining the feasibility of safety design standards. enefits of the projected 180 lives that would be saved. The costs outweighed the benefits by almost three times. This analysis indicated no improvements to the gas tanks were warranted.
2. Identify the pertinent ethical issues/points of ethical conflict a. Can you put a value on a person's life b. Is the cost of $11 to fix the problem really worth more than a person's life c. Ford was aware of the gas tank problem and still did not fix it. 3.
Identify the relevant affected parties a. Pinto owners b.Ford executives who made the decision to go ahead with production c. The Engineers who were aware of the problem and kept quiet 4.
Identify possible consequences of alternative courses of action a. Lives would have been saved with the $11 fix b. If more time was taken to produce the car, the Pinto would have been a safer car c. Ford would have saved money on lawsuits while profit would decrease 5. Identify relevant obligations a.
At the time of production the Pinto was considered safe. b. The engineers followed the "Limits of 2000" .Identify your relevant community standards that should guide you as a person of integrity a.
Confident when purchasing a car that it will be safe. b. Confident of automakers producing safe vehicles c. Communities value human life more than the $11 fix. 7.
Check your gut The facts were taken from the end of chapter 4, Pinto Fires by Dennis A Gioia That is also where I got the questions from. Trevino, L. K. , Nelson, & K. A. , .
(2007). Managing business ethics. Straight talk about how to do it right, Fourth Edition. John Wiley & Sons. Slide show Facts 1 Short production cycles 2 Tooling being produced simultaneously as engineering 3 Ford aware of problem before production 4 Original gas tank design despite knowledge of failure Ethical issues and affected parties 1 $11 fix 2 Value on someone's life 3 Ford with knowledge of defect 4 Consumers and engineers of Ford with knowledge of problem Obligation and standards 1 Ford provide quality automobiles 2 Human lives cannot be valued 3 Ford should have fixed problem before releasing for sale
