Ford Pinto: How Much Is A Life Worth In Dollars?

Case Analysis: Ford Pinto
Carlandra Moss
Excelsior College
November 2, 2014

How much is a life worth in dollars? Imaginably a couple of million? In the 1970s Ford Motor Company idea of life was worth about $200,000 dollars. In the article, Pinto Madness by Mark Dowie, Ford Motor Company argued that it would be too expensive to fix a crash-induced fuel leak in the Pinto Car model. Ford was definitely facing a serious moral obligation; the moral thing to do is to face the consequences and to act in ways that will maximize the happiness or the good that will result from an action. This case analysis will define that happiness, good, and results that Ford decided was conducive in rectifying the burning Pinto syndrome.
After several attempts and gathering enough evidence Gioia brought the problem before the recall committee. The evidence insisted that during preproduction crash tests, Ford leaders learned, eight of 11 Pintos had "suffered potentially catastrophic gas tank ruptures" on impact. The fuel tanks of the three other cars had survived only because they 'd been shielded from a set of studs that did the puncturing (Bonamici, K, 2005). With Ford continuing to ignore or make repairs, more and more people were dying after being rear-ended in these cars. One example happened in Elkhart, Indiana during the fall of 1978, where three teenage girls died when their Pinto, equipped with an allegedly faulty gas tank system, burst into flames. This significant tragedy was intensified when it came to light that the accident was foreseeable. By the date of the accident, the internal cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ford employees had been made public. The cost-benefit analysis coldly calculated the expected benefits of repairing the Pinto 's defective fuel system in terms of lives, injury, and property saved, and compared them to the costs of design modifications. The analysis revealed that, although Ford executives knew that the placement of the tank on the Pinto could cause gas leakage
Ford discontinued the Pinto in 1980 after a costly recall, but the blow to trust would prove more lasting. Consumer activists would now act as safety watchdogs. Competitive advantage is not to just present a product for consumers to purchase, but to gain trust and establish a relationship where they will continue to be loyal. Ford Motor Company was not mindful of this, and when a California jury awarded a Pinto victim a then unheard-of $125 million (later reduced to $3.5 million) for pain and suffering, it roused class-action lawyers everywhere (Bonamici, K, 2005). The results could and should have been different. Ford’s President, Lee Iacocca displayed a lack of mindfulness which inadvertently lapsed his judgment. Gaining a competitive advantage by producing a vehicle under the recommended production guidelines was undisciplined and negligent. In 1966, the National Academy of Sciences published "Accidental Death and Disability - The Neglected Disease of Modern Society," treated automobile accidents as an epidemic, and provided further scientific data supporting the risks associated with driving. The report explained that in 1965, automobile accidents and other accidental injuries killed 107,000 people, temporarily disabled over 10 million, and permanently impaired 400,000 American citizens at a cost of approximately $ 18 billion (Ezroj, 2014). According to the report, "this neglected epidemic of modern society was the nation 's