The Ford Pinto Case

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Having conducted my own Utilitarian Analysis as described on page 56 of our text, I could not conclude that the Ford Motor Company acted in a moral or ethical manner in the case of the Ford Pinto. For only a cost of between 8 and 11 dollars per car much of this loss of life and devastation could have been avoided for so many families. During Ford’s cost analysis they accounted for the cost of lives versus the cost to correct the deficiencies of the car. One thing they did not take into account for was the terrible publicity that they would receive at the time and for many years to come.

During the time of the Pinto’s initial production there was not a rear impact safety standard by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Ford Motor company began fighting with the NHTSA as early as 1968 during the Pinto’s blueprint stages. The final safety regulations for rear end impact and fuel safety would not be adopted until 1977. In 1978 Ford finally agreed to recall all model years of the Pinto to install the plastic baffles they had known all along would have fixed this major safety violation.

In conclusion, there is just no way can anyone justify to me that the Ford Motor Company was ethically justified to continue production of the Pinto without making these simple corrections prior to production. Think about this, the Pinto’s last year of production was 1980 and you rarely see one on the road today, and for good reason. However if you ask a group of young adults today what they know about the Ford Pinto, they will be able to tell you something about it, and it will not be good. They will know about this case, and that the car was considered a death trap. Keep in mind that this car went out of production 20-30 years before most of this generations teenagers and young adults were born. This is not what I would want to be remembered for in my life time.

Works Cited

Berry, Shaw &. "Business Ethics." 2015. Philosophia. Web . 19 June 2015. .

Dowie, Mark. "Pinto Madness." Sept/Oct 1977. Motherjones.com. Web. 19 June 2015.

George, Richard T. Business Ethics 7th Edition. Upper Saddle: Pearson, 2010. Paperback.

World Wide Words. 13 August 2011. Web. 19 06 2015. .