4 ms·
In school we were taught that Ford had done an analysis and concluded the legal damages would be less than the cost of the fix. Not sure if my professor was ju
by newshorts 4y ago
In school we were taught that Ford had done an analysis and concluded the legal damages would be less than the cost of the fix.
Not sure if my professor was just whistling Dixie, but if that’s true the author left out an important part of the story.
- rawgabbit 4y agoHarley Copp, a former Ford engineer and the executive in charge of the crash testing program, "testified that the highest level of Ford's management made the decision to go forward with the production of the Pinto, knowing that the gas tank was vulnerable to puncture and rupture at low rear impact speeds creating a significant risk of death or injury from fire and knowing that 'fixes' were feasible at nominal cost." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimshaw_v._Ford_Motor_Co https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimshaw_v._Ford_Motor_Co. All this convinced jurors that Ford had known the design was dangerous and retained it anyway in order to save money. "Ford knew people would be killed," declares juror David Blodgett, who works for Western Electric Co. and who is the only member of the panel who drives a Pinto. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/02/15/jury-in-pinto-crash-case-we-wanted-ford-to-take-notice/996a9aa5-8f48-4541-8553-19c63f666830/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/02/15/j...