Chrysane Tires Essay

All of the relevant facts discussed above lead to many ethical issues. Ford was aware of the problem with the gas tank leaking and could have changed it before others died from their mistakes. Putting a price value on a life to beat the Japanese in the small car market is unethical. Safety should be a company’s number one priority, not beating the completion. There was a legal issue of NHTSA and Ford. Ford was aware that the fuel tanks were not working correctly but did nothing to change it because the NHTSA, at the time, had no laws against it.

rebuilding themselves all the way up to this day. Although a lot has changed such as the body of

3. Do you think that the decision to lease the locomotives was the best decision for

There are a few concerns about harmful behavior of the FMC that should be discussed. A behavior is harmful when it wrongfully sets back the interest of others and has a high risk of harm. Obviously, the gravity of harm in this case is very high being that it is life threatening. Once a consumer has purchased the Pinto and drives it off the lot he is at risk to getting rear ended, and burned to death by a car fire or explosion. Since the weight of this harm is very severe, the low probability of the consumer having an accident doesn’t discount Ford’s unethical behavior. Indeed, driving a Ford Pinto would place a consumer’s life at risk. Also at stake are the interests of Pinto passengers and drivers of other vehicles who certainly are not willing to risk their lives so Ford can make an extra buck. Everyone has an interest in not getting injured or killed. Setting back the interest of consumers isn’t the only thing Ford Motor Company was responsible for.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s several accidents were reported of Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone tires rolling over as a consequence of tires’ failures. By the end of 2000 the death toll was estimated at more than 250, and some

The brand image of Ford was damaged due to the product recalls of the Escape Sport Utility Vehicle due to engine fires and the Ford Focus

The tire industry is divided into two end-use markets: First is the original equipment tire market (OEM) in which tires are sold directly to the automobile or truck manufacturers. This market represents 25 to 30 percent of the tire unit production volume each year. Goodyear is the market share leader in this segment and captures 38 percent (1991). Within this segment, price is highly inelastic due to the fact that car and truck manufacturers can easily switch to a competitor brand since the price competition in this segment is fierce in this market

Lima was one of Treadway’s best plants in terms of productivity and quality control because it updated its equipment and utilized new technology. However, currently, Lima undergoes dramatic changes: job dissatisfaction and high turnover at the foreman level. Moreover, misfortunes never come singly. The entire manufacturer industry is facing some huge challenges including drastic increase in raw material costs and fierce global competition. The director of human resources in Lima plant, Ashley Wall, intended to analyze the issues and make a action plan to address these problems. Ashley needs to do five steps.

Community Wheels will focus on providing one main service; transportation. Despite being limited to one service; the organization will go about providing this service in a variety of ways. As previously mentioned, Community Wheels will partner with Uber to provide rides; however, the organization will also attempt to make use of volunteer drivers. The partnership with Uber will entail clients requesting Uber for their transportation needs, with their payment being categorized by their level of income, requiring them to pay in-between 10% – 25% of their total trip cost (See the percentage breakdown for income in the Appendix C). The remaining balance will be paid by Community Wheels, and the partnering organization via a financial model in which Community Wheels bears a majority of the cost. Should the need for transportation be higher than the number of Uber vehicles available, volunteers from Community Wheels will drive the client. Unlike with Uber, Volunteers will not be paid by the rider, instead volunteers will be reimbursed for their mileage at the current government established rate. When using Volunteers, riders will not be responsible for any payment.

Ford was not in violation of the law in any way and had to make the decision whether to incur a cost to fix the obvious problem internally. There were several options for the fuel system redesign. The option most seriously considered would have cost Ford an additional $11 per vehicle. Under the strict $2000 budget restriction, even this nominal cost seemed large. In addition, Ford had earlier based an advertising campaign on safety, which failed miserably. Therefore, there was a corporate belief, attributed to Lee Iacocca himself, of “safety doesn’t sell”. (2)

Ford did not approach the question of redesigning the gas tank to make the car safer versus waiting another year allowing the foreign market to dominate subcompact vehicles. Their goal was only to maximize profits. They did not into account the interests of their share holders and when they did come into consideration, they were analyzed against profits. One has nothing to do with the other. Their goal should not have been a race to make the most affordable subcompact car. Their focus should have been to make a subcompact car that was not only most affordable but also the safest subcompact. They were aware of the dangers associated with the rush production. It would have made a difference if the $11 savings had been passed on to the customers because they would've kept their reputation and integrity in tact and possibly gain customers who were not considering the vehicle. Any rational customer would not have chosen to save $11 to drive a car at the risk of dying. It is never appropriate to knowingly jeopardize people's lives. That is a criminal act. Their actions were socially irresponsible, ethically and morally wrong. They did not consider their own reputation nor did they consider that they represented America in the industry.

Since I was a child, I have always dreamed I could have a car which belongs to me. I still remembered when I was four years old, my parents gave me a remote control car as my birthday gift. After that day I started to fall in love with cars.

Engineers are trusted individuals which the public has set high standards for. The public relies on engineers to efficiently, and accurately determine the safety of all products they create. Engineers are required to follow safety procedures in order to ensure the quality of the products they create. However, are these procedures enough to ensure the safety of the public? Or can additional actions be taken in order to improve the safety of a product? If so, to what extent should engineers be required to take matters into their own hands and ensure the safety of products, in return reducing the number of injuries and fatal accidents?

This fact is essential to the survival of the company should the Firestone tire business disappear as a result of the current recall fiasco.

Everyone except Ford’s top executives, who in an internal document cited the potential danger. So not only did they know about it, but they calculated that it would be cheaper to pay out possible injury claims then it would be to recall all the vehicles. This ethical dilemma came to a head when three teenage girls were killed in Indiana while in a Ford Pinto. With the bad press and with company officials being indicted with negligence and homicide, Ford was forced to recall all their Pinto vehicles. Ethical issues in the auto industry regarding product safety are dangerous and are linked to human lives. The decisions that Ford executives made had a direct impact on those three teenage girls and the blood was left in their hands. This is just one of many faulty decisions made in automakers history that helped mold the unethical decisions made by Volkswagen in the most recent ethical issue facing the auto industry.