The Ford Pinto Case

Business case (Ford Pinto) In the 1960s, Volkswagen and several Japanese companies competed fiercely in the US small car market. In order to fight this competition, Ford introduced its latest focus to mass production in much less time than developing a car. The normal time to produce a car is 43 months, but Ford took only 25 months (Satchi, L., 2005). Although Ford won a new design to reduce the possibility of exploding Ford Pinto, even if it costs $ 11 per car, even if it was analyzed to show that it will not run its design, the company runs the design 180 people who chose not to die died.

The main controversy over the Ford Pinto case was the choice the Ford Motor Company did during the development process to reduce safety from the viewpoint of efficiency and profit maximization. More specifically, it was Ford who decided to use the cost benefit analysis detailed in section 11 to make a conversion to a life-threatening production decision. In the initial production and test phase, Ford set "2000 restrictions" for focus. In short, the price of the car is less than 2,000 dollars and the weight is under 2,000 pounds. This imposes strict restrictions on the production team. When the basic design is completed, a collision test is started. The results of the crash test showed that the flat top tank burst when it was hit from the rear at a speed of 31 miles per hour or more. At that time, the fuel tank was placed according to industry standards (between the rear bumper and the rear axle), but the bolt protruding from the rear axle penetrated the fuel tank. Pinto was basically a trap of death

In the case of Ford Pinto, the well-known fact is that Ford engineers knew the possibility of Pinto's disaster before car production. They did a crash test at the top secret location, and each 25-mile test will rupture the car's fuel tank. An employee of Ford who swore sweared the fact that the car was flooded in the market for about 8 years. According to internal cost-benefit analysis, it is clear that it is not desirable for companies to make changes quickly. Therefore, they put the value of money into people's lives. Total revenue was $ 49.5 million and total cost was $ 137 million. Therefore, employees are not whistling because they are afraid to be fired.

The ethical approach to the Ford Pinto case made it difficult to accept the risk / benefit analysis made by Ford Motor Company. When adopting the right decision based on numbers, Ford adopted the policy of essentially allowing a certain number of people to die or injured, even if they blocked it. Depending on the situation, this decision seems to be obviously ignored for human life. From a human rights standpoint, Ford ignored the rights of the injured people, so he decided not to adjust the fuel system, he took unethical behavior.