This case involves the Ford Pinto and its reputation for the gas tank exploding causing hundreds of injuries and lawsuits. Lee Iacocca was accused at the time of being “in a hurry” to bring a subcompact car into the market to compete with competitors. In that rush, it was said that cost saving measures were used to speed up production. It was argued that these cost saving techniques caused the issues with the exploding gas tank. Ford and Iacocca believed it would be cheaper to pay off the families of the victims as the claims arose rather than fixing the issue on each car after production. This ruined Ford’s reputation.
Although some would argue that Lee Iacocca was personally responsible for the deaths of numerous individuals, the trial did indicate that there were hundreds of projects engineers that worked on the case that stated they knew of the flaw but did not tell Lee Iacocca. Reckless homicide must be presented as willful misbehavior and that was difficult to prove in this case. I think it would be next to impossible to prove he willfully acted in this manner however, Ford certainly should be held responsible for any damages or a different charge.
Word count: 208
Sherefkin, R. (2013, June 16). Lee Iacocca’s Pinto: a fiery failure. Automotive News. Retrieved from: http://www.autonews.com/article/20030616/SUB/306160770/lee-iacoccas-pinto:-a-fiery-failure
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