Overview

Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca served as President of Ford Motor Company from 1970 to 1978 and later as Chairman of Chrysler Corporation. At Ford; Iacocca championed the Ford Pinto; a subcompact car he pushed to market with a strict $2;000 price ceiling and 2;000-pound weight limit. To meet these targets; Ford engineers were forced to place the Pinto's fuel tank in a vulnerable position behind the rear axle; where it was prone to rupture in rear-end collisions. Internal Ford crash tests confirmed the dangerous design; and engineers proposed an $11 per car fix (a rubber bladder or repositioned tank); but Iacocca's cost constraints prevented implementation. Ford's internal cost-benefit analysis (the infamous "Pinto Memo") calculated the cost of fixing the fuel tank ($137 million for 12.5 million vehicles) versus the projected cost of death and injury lawsuits ($49.5 million; valuing each death at $200;725); concluding it was cheaper to let people die than to fix the car. An estimated 27 to 180 people burned to death in Pinto rear-end collisions between 1971 and 1980; the exact number is disputed. Ford was indicted for reckless homicide in Indiana in 1978; the first time a U.S. corporation faced criminal charges for a defective product; though Ford was acquitted. The case became a landmark in corporate ethics and the study of cost-benefit analysis applied to human life. Iacocca went on to become a folk hero at Chrysler; engineering the company's $1.5 billion government bailout and turnaround.

Key Affiliations

Controversies & Concerns

Related Investigations (1)

Known Associates & Connections

Sources & Documentation

2 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports