The Ford Pinto Case In the early years of car making, America was one of the top car manufacturing countries. But in the late sass’s the consumers preference started to shift, and that meant less American cars were being sold. Consumers were looking for a more compact car rather than the heavy and long cars that were being sold. Japanese car manufactures of Data’s and Toyota had taken over the market with their small, cheap, and compact cars. The Ford motor company felt the Japanese punch and decided that it was time to give the consumers what they were looking for.
Lee local set a challenging goal to his car designers for a 1971 model that would be less that $2, 000 and also had to weigh less than 2000 lbs. Not only was that a challenge but local also made his designers work in a very tight schedule. The normal time to design and put a car into production was usually about 43 months. local gave a whole 25 months for everything to be done. His team was successful and the result was the 1971 Ford Pinto. Because of the time crunch, Ford was unable to test out the car for rear-end impact before the car was put into production and sold.
At the time there was no tankard with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for rear-end impact collision, so there really wasn’t a rush to test this out. The Ford Pinto was put to the test after being introduced to the public and failed (Disgorge). The failed safety crash test showed that there was a very dangerous design flaw in the Pinto. If a Pinto were to get involved in a low speed (about 20 MPH or more) rear- end impact, it would cause an explosion. This would happen because of the placement of the gas tank was close enough that the rear bumper would puncture it, which would cause the explosion.
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As described with more detail by Ben Woozily: Upon impact, the filler neck would tear away from the sheet-metal tank and spill fuel beneath the car. The tank was also easily punctured by bolts protruding from the differential and nearby brackets” (Woozily). Looking more into the problem, Ford designers and engineers found a solution to the very dangerous and potentially deadly issue. There was baffle that if placed between the bumper and gas tank could prevent an explosion from happening so easily and would stand in the same ground as other cars in its class.
The solution to this problem seemed like an easy fix and at the cost of about $1 1 err baffle. Common sense would tell you that this would be the only solution to this problem. This wasn’t the case when it came down to the numbers. When factoring what it would cost Ford to recall and repair the problem to all Pinto’s sold or released for sale, it was calculated that it would be about $113 million. Comparing the $113 million Ford would spend on fixing the problem there was also the number of how much it would cost if the problem was ignored and Just released damage payouts.
This number came out to be considerably less ($49 million according the Fords calculations) than fixing the problem. At the end Ford choose to ignore the problem and continue manufacturing the Pinto like if there was nothing wrong with it (Woozily). Through the years of having the Ford Pinto in production, there were numerous deaths. Between the years of 1976 and 1977 there were 13 deaths suffered from rear-end collisions in Ford Pinto’s. Without doubt there were lawsuits filled against Ford and the numbers were not working in Fords favor.
Contrary to Fords calculations, the car manufacturing company actually had the pay out more than what it had save in not fixing the issue. When everything was said and done Ford pent more that $50 million is payouts, which doesn’t compare to the $20. 9 million it saved for not correcting the problem (Disgorge). Looking at this case through the eyes of a Utilitarian, this case is very tricky. There are many factors to be considered, but in the end it should impact for the most good to the greatest amount of people.
When we are all driving around the last thing we want to happen is being involved in any kind of collision. That being said, sometimes these situations are unavoidable. Having the Ford Pinto on the road not only would be a potential hazard for the driver of the car but to the surrounding cars as well. Looking into the Ford Pinot case, it looks like the greater good would be to fix the problem. Fixing the problem would benefit the larger amount of people when it came to highway safety. In the world of business, saving money could be considered the most important thing in any situation.
Looking at the Pinto case in a business point of view doing the morally right thing would still be to fix the problem. It’s proven in he numbers. Ford thought that it was saving money by Just ignoring the problem and letting production continue. The amount of payouts awarded to those that suffered from collision involving a Pinot shows ignoring the problem hurt the most amount of people. First, Ford lost more money than they initially calculated. When a company loses considerable amount of money, everyone one that takes part in the company is affected.
From the top ranking officers all the way down the factory works. Stakeholders would also feel a pinch from the loss. Second to be affected are those that were directly injured as the result of the Pinto. There are the ones inside of the Pinto that got hit and the injured in the car that hit the Pinto. Not to mention those that were not involved in the collision but were affected by. It could be shrapnel for the collision hitting a pedestrian or even another car that can cause another collision. Third would be the cost to the state and parties involved in any of scenarios list.
There would be a cost to everything. Emergency workers need make sure that the collision is under control and that the road is clear for the other drivers. While this is the taxpayers money being put to work, there is the traffic Jam that can be caused to clear the collision site. People stuck in the traffic Jam could be on their way to work or leaving work to pick up their kids. This can cause of lost wages or extra fees at a care for late pick-up. Living in Hawaii a small fender bender can back traffic up for hours. So an explosive collision from a Ford Pinot could ruin anyone’s week.
There are many factors that could be avoided from fixing the problem that would help the greater good to the most amounts of people. Although there is a chance that these scenarios couldn’t happen, there still is that chance lingering around that it could. Doing the morally right thing by the people would be for Ford to have recalled all Pinto’s when first knowing about the problem. Yes they would have spent money in fixing the problem, but there would rear-end collision problem. Works Cited have been not future issue when it came to a Disgorge, Richard T.
