In 1968, ford motor company made a historic decision regarding the pinto, which was engineered with a rear gas tank assembly that had a tendency to explode in accidents that involved some rear-end collisions. The company allowed the pinto to remain on the market after it determined that it would be more costly to engage in a recall effort than to pay out the costs of liability for injuries and deaths incurred. In an infamous memo, ford’s senior management calculated what the company would likely have to pay per life lost. It is noteworthy that these estimates were not fords alone but were based on figures from the national highway traffic safety administration. Using these figures, the costs for recalling and modifying the pinto were $121 million, while the costs for settling cases in which injuries were expected to occur would be only about $50 million.

How the decision-making process should be handled. How should the intrinsic as well as the instrumental value of a human life be determined? Consider how you would measure your own worth or the value of someone close to you. Who are their stakeholders and what is their value to each of them? How will they measure it financially? How much would your stakeholders suffer if they lost you? How much do you currently contribute to society and what would society lose if you were not here? How much would society benefit if you continued to survive? Businesses have reasons to consider these issues, though extraordinarily difficult; how would you prefer that they reach conclusions in these areas?