Green World: Prof. Peter Terezakis • OART-UT 1057 • NYU Tisch

Law

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Ethics V. Corporate/Management Ethics

"The 1971 Ford Pinto was rushed into production to fight imported sub-compact cars. In the 1960s and 1970s, the typical car took 43 months to design and build; the Pinto had just 25. It quickly became obvious that corners were cut.... "
Did Pintos really explode in the 1970s?

State Bar of Georgia
Ford Motor Company became the first American corporation to be criminally prosecuted when it was charged with reckless homicide. Three girls died in a fire after their Ford Pinto was struck in the rear and burst into flames; their families claimed that the fire was attributable to the Pinto’s faulty fuel tank design. Although it was acquitted of the criminal charges, Ford paid damages totaling well over $100 million in civil suits arising from explosions of Pinto fuel tanks; recalled 1.5 million Pintos; and ceased production of the car. This animated video is part of the Virtual Museum of Law, presented by the State Bar of Georgia’s Law-Related Education Program and funded by the Cornerstones of Freedom® program.
Mark Dowie, the dogged investigator who broke the story of the Ford Pinto's exploding gas tanks way back in 1977, was then Mother Jones' business manager. A sobering tale, it charges that the Ford Motor Company ignored evidence that an $11 plastic tray could have prevented its cars from bursting into flames (and killing at least 27 people). It was Dowie's first big story for the magazine, published after a six-month investigation.
40 Years After the Pinto’s Debut, Remembering its Exploding Gas Tanks • Jim Motavalli | Mar 24, 2011

Pinto Madness A Mother Jones Classic: For seven years the Ford Motor Company sold cars in which it knew hundreds of people would needlessly burn to death.