Ford/Firestone Rollover Deaths
FORD/FIRESTONE TIRE TREAD ROLLOVER DEATHS
Case Details:
Describe in detail the illegal/unethical behavior you will be analyzing in your case analysis. You may choose any case of interest from your text or the news.
In 2001, more than 175 deaths and 700 injuries in the United States were the result of Ford Explorers rolling over after the tread separated on Firestone tires with which the Explorers had been equipped. Firestone’s Wilderness AT tires were standard with Ford Explorers in 2000. Since Ford Explorer SUVs had a much higher center of gravity and were more prone to rollover than many other types of vehicles. As a result tire failure became an especially dangerous situation which led to devastating rollover accidents.
At the time, it was considered the most spectacular corporate crack-up in recent memory. Firestone CEO John Lampe brought the tiremaker's 95-year-old business with Ford Motor Co. to a screeching halt over what Lampe called "significant concerns" about the safety of the Ford Explorer. Then Ford said it would replace 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires that had been excluded from Firestone's sweeping 6.5 million tire recall the previous August. Firestone admitted that those tires were no good but maintained that everything else on the road at the time was safe. Ford disagreed as Ford boss Jacques Nasser, stated, "We simply do not have enough confidence in the future performance of these tires keeping our customers safe." Both companies attempted to pin the damage on the other.
State and federal investigators as well as attorneys for the victims of Explorer rollovers cheered the split, because it enabled them to pit one company against the other in court. Accidents involving Firestone-equipped Explorers had accounted for most of the at least 174 deaths and more than 700 injuries that prompted Firestone to recall its 15-in. SUV tire. Ford faced hundreds of lawsuits that sought damages totaling more than $590 million, and the
Case Details:
Describe in detail the illegal/unethical behavior you will be analyzing in your case analysis. You may choose any case of interest from your text or the news.
In 2001, more than 175 deaths and 700 injuries in the United States were the result of Ford Explorers rolling over after the tread separated on Firestone tires with which the Explorers had been equipped. Firestone’s Wilderness AT tires were standard with Ford Explorers in 2000. Since Ford Explorer SUVs had a much higher center of gravity and were more prone to rollover than many other types of vehicles. As a result tire failure became an especially dangerous situation which led to devastating rollover accidents.
At the time, it was considered the most spectacular corporate crack-up in recent memory. Firestone CEO John Lampe brought the tiremaker's 95-year-old business with Ford Motor Co. to a screeching halt over what Lampe called "significant concerns" about the safety of the Ford Explorer. Then Ford said it would replace 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires that had been excluded from Firestone's sweeping 6.5 million tire recall the previous August. Firestone admitted that those tires were no good but maintained that everything else on the road at the time was safe. Ford disagreed as Ford boss Jacques Nasser, stated, "We simply do not have enough confidence in the future performance of these tires keeping our customers safe." Both companies attempted to pin the damage on the other.
State and federal investigators as well as attorneys for the victims of Explorer rollovers cheered the split, because it enabled them to pit one company against the other in court. Accidents involving Firestone-equipped Explorers had accounted for most of the at least 174 deaths and more than 700 injuries that prompted Firestone to recall its 15-in. SUV tire. Ford faced hundreds of lawsuits that sought damages totaling more than $590 million, and the
References: can be used for the following: http://www.ethicsweb.ca/codes/coe2.htm http://www.usautoinjurylaw.com/cases/tires/failure-explorer.htm Kubasek, Brennan and Browne, The Legal Environment of Business, various chapters http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6421/is_4_82/ai_n28798459