Pinto Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Pinto - Case Study ExampleIt seemed that it was more of a rush project, and the company had not dedicated enough time to its founding as was necessary. The styling factor took precedence over all some other engineering concerns, so much so that the company decided to position the gas tank undersurface the real axle. This was considered to be riskier and more prone to damage and fire during collisions. The model went for crash- trial runing and at that time the test revealed that if the collisions were made at a speed of more than 20 miles, the tank would leak and result in the gas leaking into the car where the passengers were sitting (Trevino and Nelson). Contrary to what the results suggested, the companys management made the decision of continue with the production of Pinto (Trevino and Nelson). This was based on several considerations. Firstly, the equipment in Fords assembly line was already functional and geared towards the making of this car thus, by not producing it the c ompany would bear significant loss. Secondly, the design complied with the basic minimum that the government and legal standards required. The requirement at that time was that the tank needs to be in place only if the collision is at a speed of less than 20 miles per minute (Birsch & Fielder). Thus, at any speed over 20 miles per hour, the government did not requirement the tank to be intact. Third, the companys management was of the view that the cars design matched with the design of comparable cars produced by other manufacturers. The final reason pertains to the Utilitarian line of reasoning. The company had conducted a hail- good analysis whereby it discovered that the cost of altering the gas tank would amount to $137 million whereas the benefit was only $49.15 million (Trevino and Nelson). This cost benefit analysis has come under scrutiny in various literatures. Firstly, it was rather erroneously assumed that the pattern of