Ford Vs Pinto

1064 Words5 Pages
In the late 1960s to early 1970s Ford was losing market share to overseas car manufactures. In order to regain lost ground in the subcompact car category, they decided to rush their design and development of their new car the Pinto. Design started in 1968 and with a completion goal of 1971, Ford slacked on testing requirements set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). When a rear collision occurs the gas tanks would rupture resulting in dangerous leaks. This results failed to pass fire specifications set by NHTSA. In response to these results Ford modified the Pinto’s gas tanks with rubber bladders and a piece of steal between the tank and the rear bumper. With these modifications the Pinto passed the NHTSA standards,…show more content…
Ford thought that by keeping their bottom line in the black they were not responsible for human life. In this way they put business before life, violating ethic responsibilities. Furthermore, Ford did not recall the Pinto’s immediately after they discovered a potential safety issue, and in this way disregarded ethical accountability. Fords plan to avoid fixing the Pinto’s almost came back to bite them financially. In the suit that resulted for the death of Richard Grimshaw at the hands of a Pinto gas tank fire, a judge handed Ford a $125 million, which was ultimately reduced to $3.5 million. The short term impact of Ford’s decisions was loss of life as the second the Pinto was on the streets it posed an unnecessary risk to human life. The long term impact to Ford would be their bottom line as they would potentially lose money either from recalls or handling lawsuits and loss of…show more content…
They must have really felt pressure to get a product out the door to compete with overseas pressure. By changing the price of the vehicle Ford must have felt it reduced their competitive edge and thus this solution would have possibly affected their domestic and possibly international market share. This solution would also have affected the consumers as they would have been the ones ultimately with the bill, but if it meant their safety anyone would gladly pay a slight premium. There is also the possibility that such a premium would cause consumers to purchase a competitors car, in which case Ford would lose both money and market share. For was faced with an ethical dilemma regarding the Ford Pinto in the late 60s to 70s in which a design flaw caused gas fires upon a read end collision with the car. Ford placed their bottom line ahead of human life and decided to ignore the need for costly safety measures. Death could have potentially been avoided however if Ford had simply included the necessary safety measures in the Pinto and then passed to cost off to the
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