Preview

1968 Pinto Dilemma

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
643 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
1968 Pinto Dilemma
Every day we are faced to make decisions that not only affect you but also may have an impact on others. These decisions may benefit you or your business but could have the opposite affect towards the public. Decisions have the ability to make or break an organization and often take weeks or month to evaluate all possible alternatives. This paper will discuss the Ford Motor Company’s dilemma regarding the 1968 Pinto.
Decision making is the process of making choices based on the values, preferences and alternatives of information gathered. In 1968 Ford Motor Company redesigned the Ford Pinto in that they changed the location of the gas tank to the rear of the vehicle. The problem with this designed was that it created an explosion upon rear-end collision. Ford Senior management had two alternatives to the poorly engineered design: create a modification for the Pinto or to leave the car as is. The modification would replace the fuel tank in 11 million vehicles at $11 per car which would equal out to $121 million. If Ford would neglect the problem the …show more content…
If you were to calculate a human you would have to take into consideration different factors such as: job, net worth, family, etc. These are just an example of what we value a person in today’s society. No one can predict what the future holds for a specific individual making it impossible to value a person’s life. Even knowing the factors and what value they hold it would still make it impossible to estimate the cost Ford Motor Company would incurred without the fuel tank modification. If there was a method to calculate human life the Ford Motor Company would probably elect to make the modification. Even with a method to calculate a life you still wouldn’t know what type of person that would be involved in an accident. With any decision there are calculated risks associated with every option that help determine the best solution for the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Pinto Case Summary
    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Pinto Case Summary

    Mr. Gioia’s decisions regarding the Pinto fires highlights the disengagement from emotion often associated with business decisions. From a business stand point, decisions have to be based on facts and financial repercussions are the ultimate deciding factor in which action to pursue. If a defect in a certain make or model of car is classified as an extremely rare incident then no action will be taken. This is governed by the premise of statistical probability. Coupled with a detailed cost versus benefits analysis the decision is quickly made in these situations to not pursue recalls (Gioia, 1992, p. 381).…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ford Pinto Case Study
    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ford Pinto Case Study

    From reading the two assigned papers discussing the Ford Pinto fires, it is easy for someone to judge Gioia’s decisions as fallible before all the factors are in place. For example, the culture of the Ford motor company at the time, Gioa’s mental state. I believe he feels very responsible and that is why he wrote the paper and uses it as a living case study in his MBA classes.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper
    • 978 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper

    Decision making is when the financial manger makes choices among available alternatives. Decision making actually occurs parallel to planning, organizing, and controlling. All types of decision making rely on information, and the primary tasks are analysis and evaluation. The purpose is to make informed choices (Baker and Baker, 2001).…

    • 978 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ford Pinto Research Paper
    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ford Pinto Research Paper

    The Ford Pinto was first introduced to the North American market in 1970. The Pinto was introduced primarily to compete in the small car market with where Volkswagen dominated. The way the Ford Pinto was designed tragically left rear-ends accidents up in flames. This is because the gas tank was positioned in between the bumper and the axle. This was normal for small cars except the Pinto also had filler neck that was ripped out on impact which caused gas to spill out and eventually ignite. Ironically, years before, Arjay Miller, president of Ford at that time (1965), testified to Congress that Ford would lead the way with a fabric gas tank that would prevent fires in rear end accidents stating that the fabric gas tank “will be a feature you will see on our standard cars.”(Birch, 1994 p.16) Seven years later, a woman and her son were in one of these accidents. Sadly the woman died and the son was left with a scarred body. Ford upper…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ford Pinto Executive Summary
    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ford Pinto Executive Summary

    Fords argument to the government was, “It would be cheaper in the long run to just let their customer’s burn!” How can this even be a dilemma or a problem? If that statement could be made, the vehicle is not the problem, the person in charge is. I have learned that in my attempts to save one dollar, in most cases the result is losing more. Although the text stated that Ford Pinto lost more than 50 million dollars in lawsuits and bad publicity, other text found on Engineering.com and Time.com states that Ford saved money by not correcting the problems. A summary table from Engineering.com states:…

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Ford Pinto Case
    • 9301 Words
    • 38 Pages

    The Ford Pinto Case

    The cases involving the explosion of Ford Pinto's due to a defective fuel system design led to the debate of many issues, most centering around the use by Ford of a cost-benefit analysis and the ethics surrounding its decision not to upgrade the fuel system based on this analysis.…

    • 9301 Words
    • 38 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ford Pinto
    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ford Pinto

    Although the industry did not have a standard on rear-end impacts at the time, engineers at Ford Motors knew the testing for rear-end impact was a standard safety procedure. The car was tested after production, and it failed the test (De George, 2006). At that point one believes there were only two options moving forward. First, install the baffle behind the rear bumper in order to meet the testing requirements or offer customers the option of purchasing the baffle and require the customer to sign a waiver.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Ford Pinto Project
    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Ford Pinto Project

    The Ford Motor Company has been the leading car company for many decades. In the late 1960’s early 1970’s the company was losing the battle with Japanese with the small efficient cars. Lee Iacocca, Chief Executive Officer the Ford Motor Company wanted a car that will be competitive to these Japanese compact cars. With this intention in mind, the company wanted to manufacture a sub-compact vehicle that weighs less than 2,000 pounds and costs under $2,000. The result is the Ford Pinto. The Ford Pinto was one of the earlier sub-compact cars of the 1970’s. The Pinto was a catalyst in the revitalization of domestic compact cars at this time when Japanese imports were front rumors. Sure the car was simply affordable but had one flaw that would tarnish its reputation and the company’s. The Ford Pinto had fire hazard issues resulting from the placement and construction of the gas tank. When a Pinto is rear-ended the car would burst into flames resulting in an explosion. The company realized this concern during production. Because Iacocca wanted a fast sell of these cars records indicated that there was not a rear end collision test conducted until months after it was already in the market. Management did a cost analysis and determined that the cost of fixing the problem versus any lawsuits; it would be cheaper to pay for the lawsuits that would arise.…

    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Ford Pinto
    • 1805 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Ford Pinto

    Today’s economy is mostly comprised of wealthy business investors and major corporations. Fresh water resources are being controlled or being angle drilled by private corporations from across the world. This article by John Luoma, Privatization refers to: To change (an industry or business) from Government or public ownership or control to a private enterprise dealing with private water companies and public utilities. There have been records shown that the costs are soaring and services for these companies have lapsed and millions of dollars of consumer funds are not allocated properly. By these global companies dominating smaller competitors, there are little choices left, and as a result, there were protests, riots and scandals.…

    • 1805 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Ford Pinto Ethics Essay
    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ford Pinto Ethics Essay

    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 stop production once they knew of the evident dangers and take the necessary measures to eliminate them by redesigning the gas tank. I will discuss the Ford Pinto Case and the harm Ford Motor Company (FMC) caused by its inability to make decisions that competently respect the wellbeing and rights of people.…

    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ford Pinto Essay
    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ford Pinto Essay

    Running head: Ford Pinto Case Study – Was Ford to Blame in the Pinto Case?…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Ford Pinto Essay
    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Ford Pinto Essay

    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…

    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    MSc Clinical Leadership
    • 5046 Words
    • 16 Pages

    MSc Clinical Leadership

    Parcon, P. and Press, L. (2006) Book Summary Preview: Develop Your Decision-Making Skills. [online]. Available at: http://www.bizsum.com/2page/b_DevelopYourDecisionMakingSkills.php [Accessed 20 January 2010].…

    • 5046 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Decision Making Process Paper
    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Decision Making Process Paper

    Decision making process are essential skills for everyday life and business. Decision making can often be challenging for many individuals depending on how serious the issue. Therefore improving effective decision making involves brainstorming and selecting a choice of action. Decision making process is based on many circumstances, majority the importance of the issue and the impact of the decision.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Marketing Environment
    • 4227 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Marketing Environment

    Decision Making refers to a conscious, intellectual activity involving judgment, evaluation and selection from among several alternatives.…

    • 4227 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More