Ford Pinto Fuel Tank Scandal
The Events of the Case
Terminal Value
- meeting production timetable
- saving money
Instrumental Value
- Ford decided to compress the schedule for the Pinto
- Crash test ended up with ruptured gas tanks and dangerous leaks
- Only Pinto's to pass have been modified with a rubber bladder in the gas tank or a piece of steel between the tank and rear bumper
- Ways to make gas tank safer, estimated cost, $5 to $8 per vehicle
- Ford went ahead with the design knowing it was dangerous and stuck with it for 6 years
- Thus, safety improvements outweighed Ford's benefits, consequently sticking to old design without improving
Corporate Social Responsibilities #1
Innovation - Body of Work
New pick up truck F-150 promised to have:
Ford's Company Mission Statement
Ethical Dilemma
- bigger payloads
- greater towing capacity
- better handling
- increases strength and durability while reducing vehicle weight by up to 700 pounds
Jeopardize consumer safety, thereby meeting the production timetable? Or delay production by redesigning the gas tank to construct safer vehicle?
Enhance the lives of the population through automotive and transportability leadership as a trusted, global enterprise.
Ford is always trying to find new methods and ideas while building cars - linked to fuel tank dilemma
Main Ethical Events
Corporate Social Responsibilities #2
Outcome
Society for Poor People Development
Moral Rights
Utilitarian
Between 1971 and 1978
- Ford provided support for India's SPPD for basic training in tailoring
- helped hundreds of low-income women
- built learning centers in eight villages
- provided clean drinking water to 1,500 children
- safety right was violated to all the consumers
- Ford knew gas tanks were not functioning properly but still produced and sold the Pinto
- Pinto was responsible for many fire related deaths.
- Ford put the number at 23, critics say closer to 500
- Ford was required to recall all 1971-76 Pintos for fuel tank modifications
- approx. fifty lawsuits were brought against Ford
- three teenage girls were burned to death in the Pinto
- Ford was charged with criminal homicide. Jury found ford not guilty
- selling Pinto without redesigning gas tank, Ford is meeting production timetable
- safety improvements would outweigh benefits
- more consumers benefited from the Pinto rather than suffering from it
Ford claims that Pinto met or even passed government standards
Works Cited
http://corporate.ford.com/company.html
http://corporate.ford.com/content/dam/corporate/en/company/Company_Community_2014_FordFundReport.pdf
http://corporate.ford.com/innovation/f-150-body-of-work.html
https://philosophia.uncg.edu/phi361-metivier/module-2-why-does-business-need-ethics/case-the-ford-pinto/