Individuals are not alone in lapses of judgment that make one learn from previous incidents, companies and corporations too are prone to this foolhardy phenomenon. As has been witnessed in this past decade, an ever-increasing number of companies have been sued for a wide variety of reasons. In many situations the companies being sued have been brought up for litigation because they failed to inform the public about defects or faults in their products. An alarming number of companies even knew about such defects but continued to produce despite knowing the deadly consequences that lay behind their actions. Ford Motor Company is no stranger to the courts.

Some companies do not understand, or instead maliciously opt not to acknowledge, the difference between law and ethics and presume that since they are not explicitly violating any law then any ethical and moral violations are outweighed because of the cost benefits to the company that usually arise a as a result of such violations. "Cost-benefit analysis, the sort of efficiency calculation that is common to business decisi

An expert witness in the case Dr. Govindjee, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley said, "in all cases, failure rates for the recalled tires are fractions of a percent and thus determining a single cause for the tire failures is an unrealistic expectation." "From a mechanical and materials engineering perspective, the phenomena of belt separation in these tires resulted from a crack that grew in the rubber between the two belts. This cracking is influenced by a number of factors, including climate, design of the tire, manufacturing differences at Firestone's Decatur Illinois plant and usage factors."

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on-making...is based on the notions of utility" Utilitarianism, as coined by philosopher John Stuart Mill is known as the theory of ethical rationing of one's actions based on the principle of bringing as much happiness as possible to the most amount of people. "According to philosopher Jeremy Betham, the definitive moral standard is that of "utility," requiring us to consider the consequences of an act (or a social policy) for all those affected by it." This system makes one evaluate explicitly and implicitly decisions made and direct and indirect result!

Firestone instituted a 'Customer Satisfaction Program,' offering owners of Advisory Tires the option of having a Firestone dealer inspect the tires for defects, and if the owner was still not satisfied, having the tires replaced." Information on this "secret recall," the plaintiffs said, could only be found on Firestone's Web site, and had not been appropriately disclosed to the public. The plaintiffs also claimed that a review of NHTSA complaint data and statements by the tire maker's own engineers showed that tires produced at facilities other than Decatur had high failure rates.

It seems that some people will never realize that being lawful does not only mean obeying written laws but also making ethical and moral judgments about critical issues that should not have been navigated using a cost/risk-benefit analysis. Only costly court settlements will assist in deterring companies from participating in such activities and r

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jeremy Betham, Bronco II's, Decatur Illinois, , Pintos Federal, Motor Company, California Berkeley, Restatement Torts, Vehicles Plaintiffs, Firestone's Web, motor company, fuel tank, ford motor company, ford motor, cost benefit analysis, arise result, unreasonably dangerous, management potential, decision process, ford management, ford management potential, failure rates, favor plaintiff,
Approximate Word count = 1501
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)