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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 6 page report discusses the actions taken by the Ford Motor Company regarding the release of its Pinto model in 1971, knowing that the car had a faulty gas-tank design. Immanuel Kant' s "Categorical Imperative" is used as the framework for judging what the company did. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_BWpinto.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Critical flaws were made in virtually every aspect of the design and production of the car. When fuel systems proved to be faulty and a rear-end collision almost guaranteed that
the car would burst into flames, the Ford Motor Company still handled the "Pinto issue" without regard to public safety or the ethical obligation to not produce and sell a
product that could prove deadly. In fact, the decision makers at Ford determined that it would be less costly to the company to pay off lawsuits than it would be
to repair the millions of Pintos and light trucks with Pinto gas tanks. The end result, according to Sherefkin (2003) was that the Ford Pinto caused an ". . .
estimated 500 deaths and hundreds of injuries [that] were linked to a faulty design that made the gasoline tank vulnerable to explosion after rear-end collisions" (p. 208).
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was one of the 18th century Western worlds philosophers who was particularly concerned with the most fundamental aspects of issues relating to what
is "right" or "good" and what best serves the needs of humankind both collectively and individually. Kants answer to the question of how one determines the parameters of moral law
is what he refers to as the "categorical imperative." It offers a valuable framework for considering the actions by the Ford Motor Company regarding its doomed Pinto project. Brief
Background on the Pinto Sherefkin explains that when Lee Iacocca became the president of Ford in 1970, he wanted the company to start building smaller vehicles to compete with the
models being produced by Volkswagen, Datsun, and Toyota (p. 208). Iacocca demanded that this new Ford "weigh no more than 2,000 pounds and sell for $2,000" (p. 208). The fact
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