132 years of automotive industry history, host of many scandals. Manufacturers sometimes tried to get rid of these scandals to protect their prestige.

The black mark in the history of the American manufacturer Ford, one of the best-known companies in the industry, is the cause of death of 180 people. Ford Pinto modeled.

It’s all because Lee Iacoca, who was a manager at Ford in the late 1960s, started when he commissioned his team to produce a low cost car.

determined by Iacoca the cost target was less than $2,000. Iacoca explains the car to his team “A small, light, fast and cheap vehicle” used the words.

The team of engineers immediately got to work. The design and production process order to be quick Iacoca wanted the vehicle on the road in 1971.

The bugs started with the design time almost cut in half:

At that time, Ford spent an average of 43 months designing and manufacturing a car. only 24 months apart. Calendar push to reduce manufacturing labor costs may have been a positive step toward the $2,000 goal, but It was the first link in the chain of mistakes that would ignore the safety of human life.

Another constraint to meeting the $2,000 goal was design. The engineers who will do the design are supposed to finish and give their work in a short time underpaid wages. The design team, who had been instructed to give importance to style rather than technical design, carried out the given brief, putting the technical studies in the background.. lead to ignoring security requirements This mistake was another link in the chain.

By putting safety in the background of the design, criteria for the correct placement of the gas tank in the vehicle have not been taken into account.. The gas tank placed next to the axle at the rear of the vehicle was like a bomb about to explode. During the tests carried out at the Ford plant, It turns out that the gears on the rear axle can pierce the gas tank.

The alarm bells rang, but no one heard:

To solve Ford’s acceleration problem There were two paths for him. The first was to change the design of the vehicle and move the gas tank, which would increase the cost per vehicle by $11. Another way was to cover the gas tank with rubber, which eliminated the risk of punctures, which entailed costs.

Ford signed off on that scandalous decision by choosing neither. Although the gas tank risk was known because current government safety requirements were met, the Ford Pinto with these flaws went into mass production without any design change.

After the vehicle hit the road, something untoward happened. The fire that broke out in the fuel tank of the Ford Pinto killed 180 people. Ford’s attitude after this point was also quite interesting. Relatives of the deceased had rightly sued Ford. Ford officials argued in court that the $11 cost reduction was in the public interest.

Even more profit:

A profit and cost analysis was performed following the accidents that killed 180 people, injured 180 people and burned out 2100 vehicles and rendered them unusable. $200,000 each for the families of the deceased, $67,000 in damages to injuries, new cars to customers of 2,100 vehicles… Ford Pinto’s total cost as a result of the events was $49.53 million.

Oddly enough, to “save” the $11 design change cost per vehicle during production. nevertheless, it brought profits to the company. Despite everything, Ford Pinto earned his manufacturer $137.5 million.