Managing_Product_Safety_-_The_Ford_Pinto

Managing Product Safety - The Ford Pinto CASE: Managing Product Safety: The Ford Pinto I. LEGAL CASE ANALYSIS A. Facts In 1960 Ford Motors produced the first American compact car, the Ford Falcon. In 1964 the Ford Mustang followed, gaining wide favor as a sports car “for the masses.” Ford executives believed that foreign imports posed a threat to its position in the small car market, and it did not have a sub-compact model to compete with the foreign models. In 1967, Lee Iacocca became president of Ford Motors and directed development of the Ford Pinto, which was released in 1970. The Pinto rapidly gained acceptance and after 6 years over 2 million units had been sold, a company best-seller. The design and planning process for the Pinto was fast-tracked, with an ultimate development time of 38 months exceeding the average time of 43 months. The decision was made to install the gas tank as a strap-on unit under the rear floor pan and behind the rear axle. Late in the design process, however, an engineering study had determined that the safest place for a fuel tank was directly above the rear axle. However, such as design would require a circuitous filler pipe likely to be dislodged in an accident as well ford, pinto, fuel, tank, product, warranty, design, under, seller, liability, one, standard, implied, must, goods, injury, duty, consumer, modifications, injuries, clearly, rupture, rear-end, negligence, million, made, law, defective, should, manufacture, express, cause, buyer, therefore, sold