Ford Pinto Case: A Study in Business Ethics, Profits, and Decisions

The Ford Pinto case study illustrates the conflict between corporate profits and ethical responsibilities. Ford's decision to prioritize cost savings over consumer safety by not addressing a known fuel tank defect raises significant ethical concerns. The company's cost-benefit analysis, which placed a monetary value on human life, is a key point of criticism. The case highlights the importance of considering stakeholder well-being and adhering to ethical standards in business decisions. The lack of ethical considerations in the Ford Pinto case led to significant reputational damage and financial losses for the company. Desklib provides resources like this assignment to aid students in understanding such critical business ethics scenarios.

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FORD PINTO CASE ANALYSIS
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Ford Pinto Case Analysis 2
The Ford Pinto Case Analysis
The classic corporation struggles of ethics and profits can be clearly depicted in the Ford
Pinto case. It is no secret that in any firm’s goals and objectives as well as the main agenda is
earning huge profits at a low-cost production and which in the long run is considered as a short-
term or long-term success regardless of the situation. However, it contradicts with the business
ethics as the case of the Ford Pinto where companies are faced with a decision of achieving
profits at the cost or peril of consumers (Hester and Adams, 2017).
Contrary to this, Ford breached the business ethics by failing to consider their
consumer's wellbeing but opted to save money instead, by pricing the lives of their
consumers.This will be elaborated further through the who-how (WH) framework for business
ethics which is used by firms in making informed business decisions. Generally, this framework
strongly considers the stakeholders and the way in which the actions are carried out. Moreover,
the framework simply depicts that ford ought to have complied with the business ethics so
considering the lives and wellbeing of their consumers through the public disclosure test.
According to the who-how (WH) framework guideline tools, it is evident in the ford
pinto case that the decision-making process of Ford corporation lacked to adhere to both aspects
of rules as required during the action process. However, after conducting a research and finding
out that the final figures of updating the designs and changing each pinto tank would lead to a
total cost of 137 million dollars as well as a damage to the firm’s brand. Thereafter it came to
light that paying for damages related to the car defect would cost about 50 million dollars which
were cheaper and would lead to more than half of the initial amount being saved, therefore
minimizing losses (Davis, 2016).

Ford Pinto Case Analysis 3
There are several reasons that consider the actions of ford corporation in solving the Ford
Pinto as unethical. Its unethical for firms to place a price tag on human life as Ford did. The firm
accounted for the total number of ford pintos that were active and calculated the cost of each
death, injury (minor or serious) and other expenses related to the defects of the Ford product
(Bandura,2016). Moreover, the action that they took in solving the Ford Pinto incident did not
even factor that damage that it would cause to the brand of the firm which would eventually lead
losses. The constant rising in suits and settlements from angry consumers who experience the
consequences of the Ford pinto defects resulting in the increased bad press as consumer trust was
deteriorating fast. Nevertheless, the Ford Pinto was not up to the required safety standards as
required.
The positioning of the fuel tank was patronized in the sense of achieving low-cost
production leading to profits. Moreover, the fuel tank position and the overall ford pinto design
did not account for shock absorption during the collision which was also a breach of the business
ethics a single collision would cause the fuel tank to explode harming the consumers. If the firm
had initiated better designs that would have absorbed the shock forces, accidents that occurred
would have been minimal or no explosion-related injuries at all, therefore, complying with the
ethics while creating a good brand image contributing to the continued growth and development
of the firm.

Ford Pinto Case Analysis 4
References
Bandura, A. (2016). Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm and Live with
Themselves, by Albert Bandura. New York: Macmillan, 2016. 544 pp. ISBN:
978-1
Davis, M. (2016). The Price of a Person. International Journal of Applied
Philosophy, 30(1), 105-114.
Hester, P. T., & Adams, K. M. (2017). Ford Pinto Case Study. In Systemic Decision
Making (pp. 351-384). Springer, Cham.