Was Ford blamed in the Pinto Case?
The case of the Ford Pinto is one of the most frequently used examples in many texts concerning Business Ethics and cost-benefit analysis. It is not that easy to clear up whether Ford should be blamed in this case, because the causes of the accident under consideration remain unclear. This is why Ford was not blamed in the Pinto case; however, lots of victims, their relatives, and advocacy groups were eager to blame them and even ensured certain corporate responsibility.
So, it is quite possible to use this Pinto case as one of the brightest examples of how corporations could be prosecuted for homicide. (Clinard, 215) If I were a relative of young daughters in this case, without any doubts, I wanted to blame the corporation; however, the results could easily disappoint me because the modern industry compares human lives with money and truly believed that financial support could help to control the grief.
Is the American industry at too many risks for lawsuits to remain competitive?
Nowadays, competitiveness among corporations turns out to be one of the most serious problems for the population. First of all, the American industry is at risk because lots of organizations want to enlarge their productivity and forget about simple safety precautions. Secondly, many prosecutors are eager to find out some weaknesses of the companies, which may threaten people’s health and even lives. “Human beings are seen as ‘units’” (Wolfe, 1990) So, if after the case of Ford Pinto, such ideas appeared and such comparison is not strange to many people, it turns out to be one of the major proofs that American industry and the competitiveness are the things, which should disturb people.
Should lawsuits such as the one against Ford be disallowed or limited?
To my mind, the case of Ford Pinto should not be limited. With the help of such cases, lots of other huge corporations, which are responsible for the lives of many people, will learn something and prevent the same mistakes. Human empathy is a thing that should never be forgotten. This is why lawsuits like the one against Ford have to be allowed in order to make Ford managers apologize, learn this lesson, and not to make the same mistakes in future.
Also, non-limitation of the similar lawsuits promote other corporations be more sympathetic to victims and provide them with the necessary help and some kind of support. It does not mean that the managers of the companies should cry and demonstrate their feelings on public, however, if these people do demonstrate that they do not care about the other lives, such cases will be worth.
Should we try to restrain, in this or other product liability situations, the litigiousness that seems to characterize American life?
American life sees so many changes during the last years. Industry develops day by day, taking away lots of human lives. Is it our future – to lose young people, grieve, and clear up who should be blamed or who should be justified? Nowadays, money has unbelievable power and can easily control lots of situation. The point is that those people, who have less money than the others, do not have enough rights to demonstrate their discontent. Should we make an attempt to restrain the litigiousness that is inherent to the case under consideration and American life in general? Of course, we should, and we can do by underlining this simple fact money cannot serve as equivalents to human lives.
Works Cited
Clinard, Marshall, B. Corporate Corruption: The Abuse of Power. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990.
Wolfe, Art. “The Corporate Apology – The Editor’s Chair.” Business Horizons. 33.2 (1990): 10.