During the 1970s the Ford Motor Company faced a major product safety scandal over its subcompact Pinto model, whose fuel tank design left it vulnerable to rupture and fire in certain rear end collisions, leading to a formal recall in 1978. The scandal was fueled in part by the disclosure of an internal Ford memorandum that appeared to weigh the cost of a design fix against the projected cost of injury and death settlements, and it became a widely taught case study in corporate product safety decision making.
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1. Wikipedia, Ford Pinto
WikipediaRecall sectionQuote, Recall section
On June 9, 1978, days before the NHTSA was to issue Ford a formal recall order, Ford recalled 1.5 million Ford Pintos and Mercury Bobcats, the largest recall in automotive history at the time.
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