Business Atlas

How Enterprise Is Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Corporate Event

Ford Pinto Fuel Tank Scandal

Product Safety and Operational Crises

During the 1970s the Ford Motor Company faced a major product safety scandal over its subcompact Pinto model, whose fuel tank design left it vulnerable to rupture and fire in certain rear end collisions, leading to a formal recall in 1978. The scandal was fueled in part by the disclosure of an internal Ford memorandum that appeared to weigh the cost of a design fix against the projected cost of injury and death settlements, and it became a widely taught case study in corporate product safety decision making.

Facts
Event Type
Safety crisis 1
Event Year
1978 1
Connections

Associated With

Source Wikipedia, Operations management

Companies Involved

Sources
1. Wikipedia, Ford Pinto
WikipediaRecall section
Quote, Recall section
On June 9, 1978, days before the NHTSA was to issue Ford a formal recall order, Ford recalled 1.5 million Ford Pintos and Mercury Bobcats, the largest recall in automotive history at the time.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Operations management
Associated With: Operations, Classified by subject-matter domain of the corporate event (w-bbfill-business-other-0926); cites the discipline definition.View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.