The Ford - Firestone Brawl

Boatright 's case presentation , it is highly probable that Ford 's esteemed reputation as being one of America 's premier automotive manufacturers led them to pursue a design that was flawed from its very conception , as evidenced by its prototype in the middle part of the 1980 's , the UN-46 , that showed the vehicle to be unstable (Boatright , 2006 ,

. 306 . If this were truly the case , then Ford was too much immersed with their image on the global market that they chose to forego with the most important aspect in any

vehicle - passenger safety

Prior to their business rift with Firestone , Ford was also involved in a predicament situation with Goodyear in 1979 . Basically , it involved Goodyear 's opting to disagree with the terms dictated by Ford , that they supply tires that are below quality standards in to meet the prices offered by the said company . From this previous experience with Goodyear alone , Firestone should have been aware that Ford will always be willing to sacrifice the quality and general safety of their vehicles just to make their prices at par with other competitors in the market It is indeed an unfortunate eventuality that 203 deaths and over 700 injuries (Boatright , 2006 ,

. 306 ) had to happen before they were able to realize Ford 's unethical business practice

In this respect , it is then safe to declare that Ford 's reiteration that the Explorer 's problem lies with the tires that Firestone had supplied is mostly based on their need to maintain the respect that the majority of the buying public holds for them . Perhaps their decision to absorb the expenses for the recall of over 13 million Firestone tires that cost 3 billion is their way of ensuring the public that they are indeed a company that is...