Corporate Crime Example: Ford Pinto Scandal | A Level Sociology | Crime & Deviance

welcome to this CH to you sociology topic video on crime and deviants in this video we're going to look at corporate crimes and the Ford Pinto Scandal the Ford Pinto Scandal is a widely studied case of corporate negligence and ethics in industrial production in the early 1970s the Ford Motor Company released a pinto a

subcompact car designed to compete with foreign imports the car had a critical design floor its fuel tank was positioned in such a way that it could easily rupture and explode in rear end collisions internal company documents revealed that Ford Executives were aware of the flaw but decided against fixing it prioritizing cost savings over human

safety this decision led to hundreds of deaths and injuries positioning the pinto case as a Hallmark of corporate crime and ethical failure the pinto was developed under tight deadlines and cost constraints Ford executives pushed for the car's production within a 25mon timeline faster than the typical 43-month development cycle to compete with compact Imports like Volkswagen and

Toyota this rush to Market created design compromises firstly there was a design floor the Pinto's petrol tank was positioned behind the rear axle and close to the rear bumper leaving it vulnerable to puncture or rupture in rear end collisions in crash tests it showed that the tank could explode when struck at speeds as low as 20 to 30

mph internal memos revealed that Ford conducted a cost benefit analysis comparing the cost of fixing the floor estimated at $11 per car to the financial cost of potential lawsuits from death and injuries Ford calculated that it was cheaper to pay settlements for projected deaths and injuries than to recall and fix all pinto car