Ford Pinto Study Case

Ford Case Study - Period Eye

Derek P. Witt

University of Phoenix

Ford Case Study - Period Eye

The first recorded traffic accident fatality occurred in 1899 in New York City when H.H. Bliss was struck and killed by a ‘horseless carriage.’ By 1956 the number of automobile-related fatalities crossed the one million mark ("Milestones in automotive safety", 2010). Ford’s accelerated Pinto design and production schedule began in 1968, the same year that federal law required front seatbelts as standard equipment in all cars sold in the United Sates. The automotive safety picture around 1970 was bleak by any measure. Putting safety first in areas of automotive design, engineering, and manufacturing was only beginning to gain some momentum among the consumer public and automotive industry. Lee Iacocca, president of Ford Motor Company during this period, is on record as saying “Safety doesn’t sell” (Trevino & Nelson, 2007, Chapter 4).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uses a ratio of traffic fatalities per 100 million miles traveled to track the relative safety of automobiles and drivers. In 1970 this figure was 4.8 deaths per 100 million miles traveled; however, in 2009 the NHTSA reported a record low at 1.16. The aggregate number of fatalities on United States roadways is at the lowest level since 1954, when there were only a fraction of the cars on the road and many fewer miles traveled on average ("2009 Traffic fatalities", 2010, para. 1).

In a decade that saw the Vietnam War and Watergate dominate the daily headlines, it would seem that safety on American roadways was not of great concern. However, under extreme public and government pressure, Ford finally recalled 1.5 million Pintos manufactured between 1970 and 1976 to fix the faulty design. In this modern day of standard safety equipment such as anti-lock brakes, multiple airbags, and computer controlled stability control it seems unthinkable for a car...