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Ethical issues in automotive industry
Ethical issues in automotive industry
Ethical issues in automotive industry
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Toyota issues in automotive industry resulted from a lack of moral and ethical obligations to loyal customers. In fact, people encounter ethics at one time or another. A business expectation is to act in manner upholding society values. According to authors Trevino and Nelson, (2004) states, “a set of moral principals or values, or the principals, norm, and standards of conduct governing a group or individual.” On the other hand, three ethical criteria determined in this discussion like obligation, moral ideas, and consequences which this article highlights an ethical dilemma with automobiles makers. According to Steve Gorman of Thomson Reuters, the world’s largest international multimedia news agency, 40 consumers, and businesses filed legal claims against Toyota. The claims involved financial losses including diminished vehicle principles steaming from complaints of Toyota cars racing out of manage (Gorman, S. 2010). An international company memo cited that a reliable (brake override) option in 2007, three years prior to the safety feature made standard. Toyota failed to address complaints involving impulsive unintentional acceleration starting in 2002. During this time, a new electronic throttle control system replaced the standard equipment in Toyota vehicles (Gorman, 2010). According to Steve Gorman, Toyota insists that the defective vehicles sped out of control because of the floor mats and sticking gas pedals. Both issues were addressed by safety recalls. Gorman states that many unintended acceleration cases stem from driver inaccuracy (Gorman, 2010). The Toyota Motor Corporation’s ethical issues stem from not reporting the sticking gas pedal of the Toyota Camry and Prius vehicles. Because of not reporting the issue... ... middle of paper ... ...ge James Selna for pretrial proceedings (Gorman, S. 2010). Because the Toyota Corporation may have been unethical in its business practices, the corporation suffers the loss, and now has a faulty reputation. Works Cited Abide, M. (2010). Toyota to agree $15.4 million dollar finance, Retrieved from http://techstop.abidshafiq.com/ 2010/04/ap-source-toyota-to-agree-to-16-4-million-fine/ Connor, M. (2010), Toyota Recall, Retrieved from http://business-ethics.com/2010/01/31/2123-toyota-recall-five-critical-lessons/ Kidder, R, M., (2010), Center for corporate Ethics, Institute for Global Ethics, retrieved on August 08,2010 from www.globalethics.org/ reserve reading from ethics news line Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right Fourth ed., Retrieved on July 30, 2010 from www.ecampus.phoenix.edu
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (8th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
When we consider the case of the Ford Pinto, and its relative controversy, through the varied scope of ethical viewpoints, the results might surprise us. From a personal standpoint, as a consumer, the idea of selling a vehicle to the masses with such a potentially devastating flaw is completely unethical. When we consider the case from other directions and other ethical viewpoints, however, it makes it clear that often ethics are a matter of perspective and philosophy. It’s also clear that there are cases where more information will muddy the waters, rather than clear them.
The main question is who is helping Toyota create malfunctioning cars? According to British Broadcasting Corporation, Toyota has agreed to a $1.2 billion deal with the United States safety probe. The problem with this deal is that Toyota is helping its origin country, Japan, conceal their master plan against the United States. This master plan is a big problem that will affect not only the citizens of the United States, but also the future generation. The main problem is that Toyotas has been manufacturing defect cars in the U.S. Over the past four years, American car regulators have been investigating on these defective cars and safety issues. Based on their research, Toyota has recalled over ten million cars over issues with brakes, accelerator pedals and floor mats. In addition, Toyota has intentionally concealed information about the defective cars, according to Attorney General Eric Holder. “This has been the largest criminal penalty yet imposed on a carmaker in the US” states Attorney General Eric Holder. This brings up the question, why did Toyota purposefully manufacture malfunctioning cars?
Toyota allegedly is accused of 'Unintended Acceleration' of some of their model cars. The Prius and the Lexus HS has known safety issues of possible faulty breaking systems and a recall is issued. Further, in 2010 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ordered Toyota Motor Corporation to issue a recall on several other motor vehicles for known issues such as the sticky accelerator pedal. Toyota states that the sticky accelerator was due to factory installed floor mats that the company issues with each of their new vehicles and Toyota stated for the consumer to remove the floor mats to fix this problem. Conversely, investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) found no link between the unintended acceleration and flaws of electronic throttle. Investigators instead, blamed driver error or floor mats to be the cause.
Seawell, Buie 2010, ‘The Content and Practice of Business Ethics’, Good Business, pp. 2-18, viewed 22 October 2013, .
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Nelson, K., & Trevino, L. (2004). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley
This Coca Cola malfunction incident demonstrates that if attention is not paid to the ethical operation or the company it could challenge and threaten a company’s short and long term performance. This could have long lasting affects on the companies operations and requires strategic decisions to restore company’s image in the eyes of the customers. Gaining the trust of customers takes long time but it is broken with one small incident.
Norman, W., & MacDonald, C. (2004). Getting to the bottom of the "triple bottom line". Business Ethics Quarterly, 14(2), 243-262. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200414211
Potter’s box has four components: facts, values, principles, and loyalties. Randall is posed with a dilemma of whether to do something ethically right, i.e. declining the promotion due to wanting to be a good person, or ethically wrong, which means staying with the company. It is important to distinguish the values of the stakeholders involved, in order to help Randall make an informed decision. The stakeholders involved are the company, Randall’s team, and the major automobile client. One could speculate that Randall wants to please his team members and boss by deciding to sell the cars. The car company has professional values in which they are more concerned with making money than the ethics of their actions which in turn contribute to questioning their virtues. The potential buyers of the cars can also be affected by the values of the company and Randall’s team. If they chose to lie, the buyers are misled into buying a product that can effect the relationship between the consumer and the company. The next step in Potter’s box is ethical principle. The ethical principle that is applicable to this situation is Aristotle’s Golden Mean which states that moral behavior is the mean between two extremes- one of excess and the other deficiency (Bivins, 78). This can be adapted to the virtue of truthfulness but if used excessively it would become
In 2010, automaker Toyota was faced with one of the biggest threats to its brand, the safety of its vehicles. Toyota failed miserably in its response to the safety issues due to a few major management issues.
They have proposed the option to do recalls that have been rejected on several different levels. California Air Resources Board did not accept Volkswagen’s plan to repair the vehicles. (Ramsey, 2015) California researched the plan and determined it was not cohesive enough nor did it have the necessary detailed to be put into place. Again, credibility comes into question; the employees were deceptive when encrypting the “defeat” code. The United States Environmental Protection Agency also agreed with California Air Resources Board that Volkswagen had not submitted an approvable recall plan to bring the vehicles into compliance and reduce pollution the structure of the recall plan is still being worked on by CARB and the EPA. (EPA,
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Different nations within which Toyota operates have different political, technological, social, and cultural environments. To safeguard the company’s overall image, there must be effective communication between the head office and regional quarters. This is especially important in the area of quality control, as Toyota currently grapples with safety issues facing several of its car models.
The 1970's brought about a new social awareness concerning safety. The media began to publicize crashes and the danger that exists when seat belts aren't used. There was public outrage concerning the Ford Pinto's propensity to catch fire in rear end collisions (Marshaw 154). The public was unhappy with the National Highway Transportion and Safety Association's pace regarding the matter. After the deaths of innocent victims from the unfortunate Pinto incidents, the public wanted a change in the Government's regulation of safety standards. However, the air bag still was not a top choice for protection by automobile manufacturers. As of 1973, GM studied 706 fatal crashes that concluded that the three point combination lap and shoulder belts offered better protecton with less risk and lower cost than air bags. In 1979, GM also wrote a strongly worded letter to Jimmy Carter's chief of the National Highway Safety Administration, General Motors Corporation warned: "Our studies suggested that due to the effect of pre-impact braking on restrained children, or because they might not be seated properly at the time of deployment, they might be exposed to inflation forces capable of producing significant injury. "The CEO of Chrysler also stated, "Air bags are one of those areas where the solution may be worse than the problem (Marshaw 280)." However, hardly any opinion remained the same when the public's interest turned toward safety in the late 1970's. The same CEO four years later announced that air bags would be standard equipment in all U.S-built Chrysler cars by 1990 (Brand 1). The NHTSA responded to GM and Chrysler's arguments. They stated in 1974, "We are committed to air bags and are working to improve them. We have identified unacceptable problems and are taking action to resolve them" (Brand 2). This back and forth activity would continue throughout the 1980's.