Ford VS Firestone Tires
Ok, it's the second time we have an ethics analysis regarding Ford. Hopefully this is not indicative of the company's priorities and values nowadays. Here's the link of the case.
To summarize: Car has tire/gear problem. Ford blames Firestone. Firestone blames Ford. People die.
According to investigation, there were 46 deaths and more than 300 incidents involving the Firestone tires in Ford Explorer. There was a tire recall but long after all the injuries and deaths. Of course the company face a lot of mounting lawsuits.
Who then should be accountable? According the the presenters, the Explorer's lack of stability was mainly due to lower recommended psi and also due to the modifications which were made to the Firestone ATX and Wilderness tires. Ford Executives however, put the blame on Firestone with now the infamous statement 'it is not a vehicle problem and is a Firestone problem'.
The group presented various alternative courses of action at the moment when Ford and Firestone knew about the issue.
Ford should have not lowered the psi and modified the firestone and wilderness tires just to lower costs and pressured to hasten the quality assurance process just to meet the release/introduction deadline. Ford should have at least sent a notification to their consumers of the modification made.
Firestone on the other hand, should've had their own quality control and made sure that the tires attached to the car would be on par. They should not have signed-off releasing the car without their recommended psi.
This case wouldn't have been as messy if they did not point fingers at each other and blame one another for the fault that is clearly directed at them both. It would be best that when this issue came about, they immediately recalled the units, modified its configurations and changed it cars. The cases filed were dragging and left an unpleasant taste in the mouth.
Ford should have not lowered the psi and modified the firestone and wilderness tires just to lower costs and pressured to hasten the quality assurance process just to meet the release/introduction deadline. Ford should have at least sent a notification to their consumers of the modification made.
Firestone on the other hand, should've had their own quality control and made sure that the tires attached to the car would be on par. They should not have signed-off releasing the car without their recommended psi.
This case wouldn't have been as messy if they did not point fingers at each other and blame one another for the fault that is clearly directed at them both. It would be best that when this issue came about, they immediately recalled the units, modified its configurations and changed it cars. The cases filed were dragging and left an unpleasant taste in the mouth.
No comments:
Post a Comment