1. Siwek took his new Buick to his dealer for minor repairs. While the car was in the dealer’s repair shop, the dealer informed Siwek that the car was equipped with a Chevrolet engine. The standard engine for a car of the model and year in question was a 2.4 litre 4-cylinder manufactured by the Buick division of General Motors. Before the introduction of the year’s models, the manufacturer determined that there would not be enough engines built to equip all the Buick models manufactured. For this reason, it was decided to install Chevrolet engines in some Buick cars without disclosing the practice to the buyers. Siwek complained to the Illinois attorney general, who filed a class-action suit against General Motors charging that GM deceived consumers by not informing them of the engine switch.
2. Quinly and her husband, customers at Greenway Supermarkets, purchased several pounds of filet mignon and checked out their purchases at the newly installed self-scanners. The price listed on the packages of meat totaled $ 38; however, when Quinly swiped the packages through the self- scanner, it indicated a price of only $ 6. Quinly believed that she should inform the management at the supermarket that the computer in the self- scanner had been incorrectly programmed with respect to the price of this product. However, Quinly’s husband argued that since the store would be legally obligated to charge the lower price, it was not necessary to call attention to the error. Is Quinly correct in her belief that the ethical course of action is to inform the store?
3. Stotts was employed as a technician in the engineering department of Raytron Corporation. All the engineers on staff were required to sign agreements that they would not accept employment with another company in the industry within three years of leaving Raytron. Technicians, who had limited access to company secrets, were not required to sign such agreements. After working at Raytron for about two years, Stotts realized that he was deeply involved in development and had access to the same data as the engineers did. Stotts actively sought a position with Raytron’s primary competitor and was hired by Watani Engineering. Because he did not have an engineering degree, he assumed that he had been hired because of his knowledge of Raytron’s trade secrets. Did Stotts violate legal or ethical dictates?