In the late 60’s the Ford Motor Company was faced with unyielding competition from its Japanese and German rivals in the race to the ideal compact car. In an effort to keep up with its foreign counterparts Ford came out with the Ford Pinto. The timeline from designing the Pinto to finished product was rushed due to Ford’s desire to have the car available quickly, and subsequently costing hundreds of people to lose their lives.
Before the Pinto was ready for the assembly line there were a number of quality tests to determine if the car would pass the National Highway Safety Administration safety standards (Shaw, p.85). All the prototypes Ford tested failed the crash-tests (Shaw, p.85). Flaws included ruptured gas tanks and dangerous gasoline leaks leading to fires (Shaw, p.85). Despite the data, Ford decided to go through with producing the Pinto without any modifications for safety enhancements that would cost roughly $137.5 million (Shaw, p.85). Ford’s decision not to change the design of the faulty gas tank took a tremendous toll on society. Research conducted by Ford showed that the number of lives that potentially could be lost and the costs associated with the deaths was less than the cost to …show more content…
Adding additional production costs to the Pinto when the car was meeting government standards in contrast to only a small percentage of fatalities or injured Pinot drivers convinced Ford to go ahead with delivering the flawed cars. The cost to fix the problem Pintos greatly outweighed the statistically projected cost of ignoring the problem and doing nothing. According to Ford the high cost associates with the small percentage of fatalities or injured justified the poor treatment of the minority for the betterment of the majority, a flaw in the moral theory of
Before the Pinto was ready for the assembly line there were a number of quality tests to determine if the car would pass the National Highway Safety Administration safety standards (Shaw, p.85). All the prototypes Ford tested failed the crash-tests (Shaw, p.85). Flaws included ruptured gas tanks and dangerous gasoline leaks leading to fires (Shaw, p.85). Despite the data, Ford decided to go through with producing the Pinto without any modifications for safety enhancements that would cost roughly $137.5 million (Shaw, p.85). Ford’s decision not to change the design of the faulty gas tank took a tremendous toll on society. Research conducted by Ford showed that the number of lives that potentially could be lost and the costs associated with the deaths was less than the cost to …show more content…
Adding additional production costs to the Pinto when the car was meeting government standards in contrast to only a small percentage of fatalities or injured Pinot drivers convinced Ford to go ahead with delivering the flawed cars. The cost to fix the problem Pintos greatly outweighed the statistically projected cost of ignoring the problem and doing nothing. According to Ford the high cost associates with the small percentage of fatalities or injured justified the poor treatment of the minority for the betterment of the majority, a flaw in the moral theory of