Ford Pinto Essay

In 1968 Lee Iacocca and the Ford Motor Company wanted to produce a inexpensive vehicle to appeal to the first time buyers market. Mr. Iacocca philosophy was for consumers to remember Ford as the very first vehicle that they owned so that when it was time for them to invest in another vehicle it would be a Ford. But, in order for Ford to develop a inexpensive vehicle to fit the philosophy of Lee Iacocca, they had to cut corners. Unfortunately, the one corner they cut was the placement of the fuel tank, causing catastrophic failure in rear end collisions resulting in loss of life, serious injury, or burned out vehicles.
Daniel Boyce, author of The Ford Pinto Cade Information, cuts to the chase, “The Ford Pinto is known to be one of the most dangerous cars produced in automotive history due to several serious design flaws” (Boyce). This is a crucial statement that can affect the reputation of a company and have serious consequences financially. If it was my ultimate decision to either engage in a recall or to settle the cases in which injury occurred I would have to choose the decision to recall. Not only would that decision be the correct ethical decision in my mind, it would be a decision, one that would have been very costly, that would have saved the reputation of Ford Motor Company and would have paid off with future sales.
There are two different stakeholders in this situation. The first and most important in my opinion would be the consumer, those buying the Ford Pinto. The second stakeholder would be the investors, stockholders, of Ford Motor Company. My decision to recall the Pinto, spending $11 per vehicle for a total of $121 million, would be to benefit the life of those that had purchased the vehicle. Those individuals that had put trust in the Ford Motor Company to develop a safe and reliable product have more value than that of a dollar figure.
Though my decision to recall might not sit right with the investors of Ford Motor Company, in my