The Ford Pinto Case (Suny Series, Case Studies in Applied Ethics, Technology, & Society) (Sun Series, Case Studies in Applied Ethics, Technology, and Society)

I bought this when doing my MBA;I'll sum this in one sentence.A gripping read and empowers anyone who wants to change the waytheir organisation does business!Be warned... a conscience is a very costly attribute... go forwardat your peril, but look proudly at the face in your mirror each morning.

good

Great reading, presents many perspectives on this event.

At the time of Nader's 'Unsafe At Any Speed' (1965) Ford led the nation in auto safety. They were moving to unibody cars instead of GM's X chassis cars. They were the first company to get behind the installation of safety belts and were amazed at the number of people who wanted this option - to the extent that they could not supply that number!Then just about 10 years later they contributed to some truly awful road deaths. The Nader book begins with a low speed accident where a Corvair turns over and the traffic officer finds an arm with watch and wedding ring...This book, over ten years later begins with an even slower speed accident. A van driver is not paying attention and runs into the back of a Ford Pinto. The van has minor bumper damage and a cracked headlight cover. Still looks almost perfect. You can not believe from the photos that the two vehicles were in the same accident. Three teenagers died in the fire that engulfed the Pinto and could not get out because the doors jammed in an accident. The gas tank of the Pinto was behind the rear axle and separated from its connecting pipes in an accident so that fuel sloshed into the passenger area and onto the exhaust...Argghh!Worse still Ford knew all about this and had literally calculated the difference between the legal damages and the cost of repositioning the fuel tank and putting proper connectors to the tank. It was cheaper to settle the court cases.Boy, are we better off in a 'socialistic' state where safety in cars has led to Europe increasing car hood safety for pedestrians and Volkswagen executives going to jail for faking emission levels.

Very useful for my class assignment. This book has quite a bit of info i needed.