In the beginning of the 70s, Ford designed a cheap car to compete with other car manufacturers, called the Pinto. When the design was ready and engineers had already ordered the tools for the assembly line, a possible design flaw was discovered. After running crash tests the assumptions were confirmed. When the car was involved in a rear-end collision at minor speed, the gas tank was puntured and fuel leaked out. As a result the car caught fire.

Ford discovered the problem before production had begun, but the assembly line was almost finished and redesigning the fuel tank would cost a lot of money and delay the release of the car. Instead, the Ford management made a simple cost-benefit analysis. They estimated how many car crashes might occur with the Pinto and how much damages they would have to pay for a died or seriously burned victim. Their conclusion was that it was cheaper to pay the possible victims than adapting the car at a price of $11 per car.

After a while however, people discovered the defect and started sueing Ford. In these law suits, the cost-benefit analysis made by Ford was revealed and the company was forced to pay the victims generously and recall 1.5 million cars. The scandal shows how cynical capitalism can become when profit and statistics become more important than the well-being of the customer.

Bruno

(more info at http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1980-ford-pinto12.htm)