Ford Pinto Essay
Running head: FORD PINTO
FORD PINTO
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The case of Ford Motor Company producing the Pinto is a clear example of unethical behavior on the part of an automobile manufacturer, where a potentially dangerous product was knowingly released into the market. While there are some good consequences from the action, such as the jobs that were provided to American employees producing the car, and the individuals provided with an affordable vehicle, these were far outweighed by the negative effects, such as the potential danger from the number of Americans driving the car, those that were actually harmed in crashes, and, eventually, the effects on the Ford employees themselves after their company gained …show more content…
In 1978, the company recalled the Pintos in order to install a cheap baffle that would prevent the danger of rear-end collision fires from occurring, and that at that point, many people were still interested in purchasing Pintos (DeGeorge 299). However, this does not make Ford 's actions any more unethical. As Harvey Copp had noted, engineers and executives knew about the defect in the vehicle for years, and took no action even after people began to be injured (DeGeorge 299). It was only after it became less profitable for the company to avoid putting the baffle in, due to lawsuits and lost sales, that it finally took action to protect consumers, or even to admit that the Pinto posed a danger to them, and even this action had to be prompted by the American government (DeGeorge 299; Weinberg 45). Additionally, in 1978, not all consumers were aware of the Pinto 's danger, as some news programs like 60 Minutes had not yet reported on it; after they did so, the Pinto 's sales began to drop even further, creating a large number of long-term problems for Ford 's branding and profits (Weinberg 45). So, even though Ford had attempted to rectify its situation, it had to be forced into doing so by the government and consumers, and even the workers and shareholders that initially benefited from the Pinto ended up
FORD PINTO
Insert Name Here
Insert Affiliation Here
The case of Ford Motor Company producing the Pinto is a clear example of unethical behavior on the part of an automobile manufacturer, where a potentially dangerous product was knowingly released into the market. While there are some good consequences from the action, such as the jobs that were provided to American employees producing the car, and the individuals provided with an affordable vehicle, these were far outweighed by the negative effects, such as the potential danger from the number of Americans driving the car, those that were actually harmed in crashes, and, eventually, the effects on the Ford employees themselves after their company gained …show more content…
In 1978, the company recalled the Pintos in order to install a cheap baffle that would prevent the danger of rear-end collision fires from occurring, and that at that point, many people were still interested in purchasing Pintos (DeGeorge 299). However, this does not make Ford 's actions any more unethical. As Harvey Copp had noted, engineers and executives knew about the defect in the vehicle for years, and took no action even after people began to be injured (DeGeorge 299). It was only after it became less profitable for the company to avoid putting the baffle in, due to lawsuits and lost sales, that it finally took action to protect consumers, or even to admit that the Pinto posed a danger to them, and even this action had to be prompted by the American government (DeGeorge 299; Weinberg 45). Additionally, in 1978, not all consumers were aware of the Pinto 's danger, as some news programs like 60 Minutes had not yet reported on it; after they did so, the Pinto 's sales began to drop even further, creating a large number of long-term problems for Ford 's branding and profits (Weinberg 45). So, even though Ford had attempted to rectify its situation, it had to be forced into doing so by the government and consumers, and even the workers and shareholders that initially benefited from the Pinto ended up