Other manufacturers were content to target the wealthy American could buy, not even considering the middle or lower class. Ford developed a design and a method of making the cars that steadily and continuously reduced the cost of the car, the car being the Model T. Instead of pocketing the money from the cars Ford used it to make better and more efficient ways to build a car. As a result, Ford Motor Company sold more cars and steadily increased its earnings. Henry Ford somehow managed to change people from the looking at an automobile as a luxury, and more like a convenience
1. Put yourself in the role of the recall coordinator for Ford Motor CO. It’s 1973, and field reports have been coming in about rear-end collisions, fires, and fatalities. You must decide whether to recall the automobile.
Business Ethics are defined as “moral principles that guide the way a business behaves” (Businesscasestudies, 2017). In order for any business or individual to act in an ethical
This paper explores how ethical issues of Pinto case have affected the Ford Motor Company business environment. A number of factors suggest that Ford Motor Company was negligent and violated its code of ethics. In this paper, we will review the corporate culture mindset which prioritizes profit over the value of human life for the purpose financial gain.
The birth of the automobile was truly something special. Once a far fetched dream is now what many people believe to be the back bone of the American economy. When people think about the automobile the name that comes to mind is most usually Henry Ford. Although he is not credited with the invention of the automobile, Henry Ford played a crucial role in the development of mass production. The automobile was first invented Europe in 1771 with a top speed of 2.3 miles per hour. A man by the name of Gottliech Daimler produced what was known as the milestone car in 1889, this vehicle traveled at 10 miles per hour (Brown, 105). Not more then a handful of these cars were produced over seas. Not many people had ever
In this essay, I will argue that Ford Motor Company’s business behavior was unethical as demonstrated in the Ford Pinto Case. Ford did not reveal all the facts to consumers about a harmful gas tank design in the Ford Pinto. They tried to justify their decision to sell an unsafe car by using a Cost-Benefit Analysis which determined it was cheaper to sell the cars without changing to a safer gas tank. The price of not fixing the gas tanks is human injuries and fatalities. By choosing not to make the Pinto a safer vehicle Ford placed a price on the head of every consumer. Ford’s primary concern was to maximize profits. Ford had a duty and ethical responsibility to customers to
Ford executives were under a great deal of pressure to produce a smaller, more gas efficient automobile. Japanese and German automobile sales were rapidly increasing. These competitive forces drove Ford’s executive team to respond by rushing the design process of the Ford Pinto. By 1973, the Pinto was well into production when engineers discovered a flaw in the gas tank, which was located just under the rear bumper. They discovered that if the vehicle suffered a rear-end collision over 20 mph, the gas tank could break and spill gasoline into the passenger compartment, potentially resulting in a fire. The remedy for the flaw was a part that cost $11.00 per vehicle. Executives at Ford knew the company had followed all safety standards and regulations. At that time, automobile safety standards only needed gas tanks to withstand a collision under 20 mph. An internal cost-benefit analysis revealed the costs would be substantially higher to fix the design flaw that the costs associated with any potential damages due to collisions and loss of life. The public remained unaware until Mother Jones journalist, Mark Dowie broke the story in 1977. Fueled by the media, what followed was a frenzy of public outcry and court trials.
Ford’s current mission statement is "We are a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility for people around the world." This is close to what it was in the 1960s; however with Japan closing the once thought insurmountable gap in sales American auto makers had to change. Japan had discovered a way to build smaller more fuel efficient and low-cost cars. American car manufacturers were still stuck on bigger and better as the American standard. As stated before Ford’s response to Japanese autos was the Pinto, a fantastic idea plan poorly executed. Ford knew the
Business ethics is a vital element to the growth and success of any business. To be ethical means to have a system of moral principles. Ethics alone is a branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. To have business ethics you would take the meaning of ethics and apply it to the things that go on it the work place. We are going to take
Business Ethics is a set of moral principles applied in the commercial world. Business ethics provide guidelines for acceptable behavior by organizations in both their strategy formulation and day-to-day operations. An ethical approach is becoming necessary both for corporate success and a positive corporate image. Following pressure from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto The ford Pinto was a two door coupe produced by Ford in September of 1970. In 1977 word started to get around that the Ford Pinto’s fuel tank design was highly dangerous resulting in many deaths. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration immediately recalled all vehicles and Ford modified their design to reduce hazard. Legal action arose from this topic, the two biggest cases are Grimshaw vs. Ford Motor Company and State of Indiana vs. Ford Motor Company.
Under current Ford leadership the production cycle was cut down from 43 months to 25 months. This would be the gap closer needed in order to keep up profits. This led to some design oversights in placement of components like the gas tank. In the 1971 Ford Pinto the gas tank was located directly behind the bumper of the car . By the time Ford had discovered the flaw in the gas tank placement the equipment was already created and now they were stuck with what was originally set up. The Pinto was designed around the 2000 pounds and under $2000
The Ford Pinto case study provided an interesting insight into the automotive industry. The fact that an automobile manufacturer was willing to allow a product onto the streets that had the potential to maim or kill someone is astounding. This paper will analyze the case further and investigate ethical and moral issues found in the Ford Motor Company’s decisions.
In the late 1960, s people wanted to start buying small cars and they were becoming more and more popular, people wanted better gas mileage so that’s when different car dealerships began making small cars and competing with one another as this began to be in demand. Fords ethical position was heavily based on becoming the head of small cars, as ford entered the small car market the company began to make the cars in a very short period about half the time of the current industry standard. The engineers who worked for Ford discovered when they were doing crash tests that any pinto that was rear ended from begin would rupture the fuel tank very easily this would cause all the events that are going to take place in which it because a part of history for the ford industry.
In 1968, Ford Motor Company made a historic decision regarding the production model Pinto, which was designed with a rear mounted gas tank and sub-assembly that had a propensity to explode