What Is The Ford Pinto Case
opinionated Essay
518 words
This case study involves the devastating explosions of Ford Pinto's series due to a myriad of issues that caused the fuel system design of the Pinto to be defective. This unsurprisingly led to an impassioned debate revolving around many different issues, the majority of which centered around the use by Ford of a low-cost analysis and the possible ethical violations surrounding the decision not to pursue the recommended upgrades. This debate led to an important question: Should the manufacturing of a potential dangerous design be presumed off of a risk/benefit analysis? I can see the points of both sides of the argument in this case. On one hand, I understand that it is an extremely economically efficient and safe method, US courts have upheld it on numerous occasions, but juries do not always agree. It is now known that Ford had the ability to a new manufacture a new design that would drastically lower the odds of an engine explosion. Ford made a conscious decision and chose not to implement the improved design, because it would have cost Ford $11 per car. Even an analysis done by ...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the case study involves the devastating explosions of ford pinto's series due to a myriad of issues that caused the fuel system design of the pinto to be defective.
- Opines that the us courts have upheld it on numerous occasions, but juries don't always agree.
- Explains that ford made a conscious decision not to implement the improved design because it would have cost ford $11 per car.
- Explains that ford chose to defend itself on the basis that it had used the unquestioned analysis to determine if financial costs of making the changes to the systems were greater than the societal benefit output.
- Explains that the risk/benefit analysis was drafted by the constant development of product liability, later being summed-up at mr. hand's bpl formula, which stated that if the potential harm to people’s health exceeded the cost to make the upgrades, then ford would have made the changes to the fuel system.
- Argues that hand's bpl formula only focuses on a uniquely specific accident. ford chose not to make the upgrades to the fuel system design that would have made drivers of the pinto much safer.
- Opines that there are many reasons why a strictly held economic theory should not be instituted. one, it seems unreasonably callous and condescending to determine whether people should suffer simply because it would cost too much to prevent it.
- Opines that the ford/pinto case is a tragedy for capitalism and that american citizens display such callousness and condescension towards their fellow patriots.
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- Case Study Of Ford Pintoopinionated essayFord determined that the overall cost greatly outweighed the benefits and decided against making any safety improvements. This decision resulted in numerous fire-related deaths to occur between 1971 and 1978; sworn testimony by Ford engineers stated that 95% of these fatalities could have been avoided if Ford had simply altered the location of the fuel tank. (Case: The Ford Pinto,
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- Explains that the pinto fires case centers around events that transpired more than 30 years ago and the impact of these events proved extremely important to america business history.
- Describes the major ethical issues and conflicts that exist here. how can one arrive at a financial value can be applied to human life?
- Opines that the loss of life is appalling and the suffering by all families involved is unspeakable.
- Explains that supply and demand for automobiles is on a global scale, which is why safety regulations for vehicles must be obeyed. misuse has produced lethal results.
- Opines that a person of integrity would not be able to come to an appropriate decision if the automobile industry, namely ford, was the community to provide guidance.
- Explains l. k. nelson's managing business ethics: straight talk about how to do it right.
- Analyzes how ford decided to delay production and redesign the pinto's gas tank for safety purposes. the pressure of not wanting to lose face in competing against foreign companies and applying a cost-benefit analysis to expected costs of potential repairs and outcomes greatly influenced the decision.
- Opines that ford could have avoided being at the helm of providing consumers with a vehicle that took human life if the decision to recall had been made.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how james liang, a german engineer, assisted in the creation of the "clean" diesel engine for the us market. he pleaded guilty to defrauding us officials and cooperated with investigators.
- Explains kant's ethical theory that an act is good only if one performs the act with good intentions. the categorical imperative is the process of universalizing a maxim for every possible situation.
- Explains kant's theory on ethics differs from rule utilitarianism with regard to how an action is determined to be right.
- Explains that liang's actions during the development and testing of volkswagen’s diesel engine lead to the derivation of several maxims including: "i should ignore laws" and "i should lie."
- Explains that liang's actions include confessing his role in the scandal and cooperating with federal investigators. these actions lead to new maxims that are the opposite of the previous two.
- Opines that liang's actions should remain ethical while having company loyalty. the ethical analysis conducted previously shows these actions to be unethical.
- Argues that liang is not responsible for the entire scandal because a team of engineers defrauded the us government.
- Analyzes how kant's ethical theory focuses on the intentions behind an action in order to determine if the act is good. liang acted unethically according to kantian ethics.
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In this essay, the author
- Explains that ford has a highly coordinated logistic system mostly handled by outsource firms that allows the company to have an excellent inventory management and appropriate schedule production activities.
- Explains ford's core competency is global supply chain management. the company works close with its suppliers to gain competitive advantage.
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- Explains that customer satisfaction is extremely important for ford motors before and after sales because it affects the customers’ willingness to purchase and overall loyalty towards the brand. customers' surveys are tools used by top management to gain a better understanding of customers' needs regarding design and performance.
- Explains that ford implements the design for lifecycle approach to assess and minimize the total adverse impacts of their vehicles from raw materials extraction through manufacturing and use to end of life.
- Explains that ford was the only american automaker that filed for bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis. they attribute their turnaround to their ability to deliver high quality, innovative and desirable products in every market.
- Explains ford motors is the fifth largest automaker in the world. it operates with 108 plants worldwide which houses 181,000 employees.
- Explains that ford invests heavily in r&d since product development and quality based on customers and markets’ needs are extremely important for the company. the ford c-max solar energi concept is the first-of-its-kind sun-powered vehicle that offers the benefits of a plug-in hybrid without dependence on the electric grid for fuel.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how mark dowie's article, ford pinto fuel-fed fires, clarifies the conception that money corrupts for it presents a morally conscious environment.
- Explains that ford suffered from money addiction, which is a compulsive behavior not motivated by dependency on an addictive substance, but rather by the process that leads to an seemingly positive outcome.
- Analyzes how the idea of money caused ford motor company to endanger the lives of thousands of innocent people.
- Analyzes how ford motor company's efforts to maximize profit led to the question of whether murder is a justifiable act. money influences decisions, but is not the essential cause.
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In this essay, the author
- Explains that the o-ring failure is the single technical cause of the accident, but other contributing factors were identified relating to the actions of management personnel involved.
- Explains that space shuttle challenger's launch was a mistake rooted in improper risk analysis procedures and ignorance of sound engineering advice.
- Explains that key communication problems were present internally within nasa and with its contractors prior to the launch of space shuttle challenger.
- Explains that the space shuttle challenger broke apart over the atlantic ocean on january 28, 1986, killing the seven crew members on board. the shuttle program was suspended for 32 months after the accident.
- Explains that the launch of the challenger space shuttle was delayed due to weather issues and mechanical and electrical failures.
- Explains that the decision-making systems in place by nasa were inadequate and communication between technical staff and management on safety critical issues was deficient.
- Explains that the o-ring seal of the solid rocket boosters had been known since 1977. nasa and thiokol continually accepted the elevating risk after each successful launch.
- Narrates how roger boisjoly, a srb design engineer with thiokol, wrote to senior managers regarding the inadequacy of the o-ring seal.
- Explains that nasa's reporting systems and polices for the communication of safety critical components were flawed, such as shuttle components being ranked on a scale with respect to the outcome if they failed.
- Explains that rockwell's recommendation on whether to launch was ambiguous and that nasa did not override a "no-launch" recommendation.
- Explains that the space shuttle challenger disaster was caused by a faulty o-ring seal design in the solid rocket boosters used for the shuttle launch.
- Cites the following sources: wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, shannon jones, and national aeronautics and space administration.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how dennis a. gioia's decision-making process was tainted by ford in the pinto fires case.
- Explains that script schema is a cognitive framework that people use to impose structure upon information, situations, and expectations to facilitate understanding. as dennis conformed to the corporate world, fords scripts changed to his norm.
- Explains why william h. whyte coined the term groupthink in a 1952 fortune magazine article in reference to the culture of conformity that shaped many corporations after world war ii.
- Explains that ford's perceived problem/condition was based on financial reasons and this created a framing error as they failed to reappraise rejected alternatives. groupthink often pressures people with opposite opinions into conforming to majority opinion.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how massey energy's tragic explosion in 2010 was a sum of all the problems that they had ignored over the years.
- Recommends that massey pay close attention to their ethics and company values, and actually follow them. it would affective if they properly trained and educated their supervisors.
- Opines that it would be wise for massey energy to close the mines to prevent certain catastrophes and to invest in new safety systems.
- Opines that safety systems would allow people to work in the mines and have a proper way of communicating with each other in case of an emergency.
438 wordsRead More