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General Motors ignition switch scandal
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A.) An example of corporate crime is when General Motors (GM) hid the fact that some of their cars contained faulty ignition switches that could shut off the car while it was being driven, disabling the airbag, power steering and power brake. This ignition-switch defect was tied to at least 124 deaths. In 2015, the corporation admitted that their employees knew about this problem a decade before they sent out recalls, which is the basis for the charges. B.) The four characteristics of corporate crimes are applicable to this example. None of the GM executives are being charged individually in this case. Although criminal charges against the corporation were issued regarding the faulty ignition switches, GM also settled a civil class action suit …show more content…
The families of those who were injured or killed in car accidents are willing to be compensated a total of $600 million instead of suing GM executives. I had no idea that GM had committed a corporate crime until I started researching this topic. Even though people died because GM hid information, it was not headlined in the news, leading me to believe that the public did not take interest in this case. C.) The victims were those who were injured or killed while driving cars manufactured by General Motors that contained faulty ignition switches. The families of these people would also be considered victims as well. D.) A car accident caused the victims to be injured or lose their lives. Their car shut off while it was being driven due to an ignition-switch defect, which would disable the airbag, power steering and power brake. Without these functions, the car became much more
While the widely exposed and discussed trials of WorldCom's and Tyco's top executives were all over the media, one of the most interesting cases of securities fraud was happening without any public acknowledgement.
There are numerous facts about this case that will be legally significant. The facts about the accident would include:
The case study, `Will GM 's Strategic Plan Lead to Success,` is about how the company General Motors Co. Plans to overcome financial deficits, ensure growth within the company, and remain competitive in the automotive industry. To help with overcoming financial deficits, GM was apart of the bailout, which assisted GM in relieving themselves of almost $40 billion dollars of debt. This restructuring gave GM an advantage over other automakers. Most other automotive businesses, that did not participate in the bailout, still have billions of dollars of debt they must repay in addition to competing with its adversaries.(Kinicki & Williams, 2013). GM made many cutbacks to ensure growth within the company. The reduced the amount models that are in production. They have recognized that some changes need to be implemented with global production in order to remain ahead.
As a result, GM’s developer Edward Cole was well aware of the major design defect of the excessive weight in the rear causing General Motors to face 106 Corvair liability lawsuits involving injuries and death. After the publication of Nader’s book General Motors hired a private detective in New York to gather information and discredit Nader. Nader sued General Motors for invasion of privacy winning millions in the lawsuit. Furthermore, CEO James Roche promoted Edward Cole the Corvair design engineer in question, to GM’s President. Did the CEO Roche of General Motors make a sound ethical decision with the promotion?
The responsible party for her injuries is the company. This being in accordance with the vicarious liability laws. This is because, Sitters has insurance on the vehicles and on the other hand Allens maintain insurance on their personal vehicles. Therefore, Sitters has no responsibility according to the vacarious liability laws. Moreover, it is evident that the doctrine of vicarious liability imputes the wrongful conduct of a tortfeasor to a third person who is considered to be responsible for the tortfeasor’s actions. This responsibility arises out of a special relationship, e.g, in employment relationships, family relationships
For example, due to the increase in gasoline prices over the last several years GM saw a large decline in its sales. The majority of their product line is not energy efficient and is very costly to fun on gasoline. Whereas, Honda vehicles are much more compact and efficient making their products attractive to buyers. Both companies have faced reduced sales due to the poor economies and lower profit margins because fluctuating exchange rates. GM and Honda both took large hits to profits and more importantly their reputation as a result of recalls. General Motors recently has had to pay out $2.6 billion dollars due to a faulty ignition switch (Alter), but an even harder loss to overcome was the loss of 104 lives and 191 injuries from crashes as a result of the defect. GM is not alone with this issue though; Honda also fell victim to a recall of a defective airbag inflator in over 34 million
As I explored the internet for articles on unethical organizations, it is not hard to find a long list of examples. Tyco International captured my interest the most since I saw their name mentioned numerous times in articles, and Air Products utilizes the company as a vendor in Asia. Tyco was ranked number five on The Richiest.com website’s top ten corporate scandal list. In addition, a few other familiar companies listed included BP Oil, Xerox, WorldCom, and, of course, Enron as number one.
accusations, Google says it will not end here but that it might effect other companies
2 Companies are exposed to crimes either from the inside, or the outside. White-collar crime is a complication; harming companies in our society, which costs millions. An example of a white-collar crime would be the Ford Pinto case. When gas prices were rising in the United States, people started to search for economical cars.
Corporate crime is extremely difficult to detect for many reasons. One major reason is that many people do not realise a crime is being committed as corporate crime is often seen as a victimless crime. At face value this may seem to be the case but if you look deeper you will see that this is not true. Every year the FBI estimates that 19,000 Americans are murdered every year compared with the 56,000 Americans who die every year from occupational disease such as black lung and asbestosis (Russell Mokhiber 2000). Deaths Caused by corporate crime are also very indirect so it can be very difficult to trace the problem to the corporation.
Volkswagen, a well-known German automaker, has continuously been highly regarded for their commitment to producing safe, reliable, and relatively inexpensive vehicles. However, the Volkswagen emissions scandal dramatically changed the world’s perception of the highly rated company. The vastly publicized scandal included the company fraudulently deceiving the United States government in regards to the compliance with pollution emission standards. Volkswagen should be held responsible for the legal, spiritual, and ethical
That is why the media never covers anything like this. We all know that they really don't care about. anything else except for hot topics. The truth really does not mean anything. to them. This we notice in all the cases that the media jumps to wrongful conclusions, such as the Richard Jewel case, the Olympic bombing and the TWA.
Another catastrophic outcome of car accident can be a major injury or trauma. A person might be able to survive after a...
Since the probe, General Motors had created a new post that is charged with responsibility for vehicle safety (Muller, 2013). General Motors terminated sixteen people for their role in not repairing the faulty ignition switch. The mindset throughout General Motors was to retain the bad news and keep it apart from senior supervisors. This was undeviatingly contributed to no effort being taken to remedy the faulty switch. Because of this, General Motors is directly accountable for the graves of 13
Accident type: This variable includes vehicle-to-facility due to vehicle’s breakdown or careless driving, vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle to-person, and vehicle’s fire. Accident type may generally affect the method and apparatus of the deletion work on the accident parties. Such accident types in chance affect the accident duration.