Engineering Ethics Course Assignment: Risk, Safety, and Accidents Read the Fires

Question

Engineering Ethics Course

Assignment: Risk, Safety, and Accidents

Read the Firestone Tires case (Case below) and answer the following questions:

a. Using the Fundamental Canons from the ASME Code of Ethics, identify the canon(s) that were violated by the Ford Motor Company and by Firestone. Support any selection of a canon with an explanation.  

b. Would you classify the Ford Explorer accidents described in this case as procedural, engineered or systemic? Support your selection with an explanation.

ASME Code of Ethics
The Fundamental Principles
Engineers uphold and advance the integrity, honor and dignity of the engineering profession by:
I. using their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human welfare;
II. being honest and impartial, and serving with fidelity their clients (including their employers) and the public; and
III. striving to increase the competence and prestige of the engineering profession.
The Fundamental Canons
1. Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their professional duties.
2. Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of their competence; they shall build their professional reputation on the merit of their services and shall not compete unfairly with others.
3. Engineers shall continue their professional development throughout their careers and shall provide opportunities for the professional and ethical development of those engineers under their supervision.
4. Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest.
5. Engineers shall respect the proprietary information and intellectual property rights of others, including charitable organizations and professional societies in the engineering field.
6. Engineers shall associate only with reputable persons or organizations.
7. Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner and shall avoid any conduct which brings discredit upon the profession.
8. Engineers shall consider environmental impact and sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties.
9. Engineers shall not seek ethical sanction against another engineer unless there is good reason to do so under the relevant codes, policies and procedures governing that engineer’s ethical conduct.
10. Engineers who are members of the Society shall endeavor to abide by the Constitution, By-Laws and Policies of the Society, and they shall disclose knowledge of any matter involving another member’s alleged violation of this Code of Ethics or the Society’s Conflicts of Interest Policy in a prompt, complete and truthful manner to the chair of the Ethics Committee.

irestone Tires In late 1999 and early 2000, Ford Motor Company began to receive reports from foreign countries of failure of tires on the Ford Explorer. The Explorer is a popular sport utility vehicle (SUV) equipped with standard equipment tires supplied by various manufacturers. The reports of tire failures were mostly from countries like Brazil or Saudi Arabia, where the temperatures that the tires are subjected to can be expected to be relatively high. During early 2000, Ford began a program to replace tires on Explorers overseas. At first, it might not seem that tire problems have anything to do with engineering ethics. Nothing could be further from the truth. Modern automobile tires use very complicated designs. Automobile tires are designed by engineers using modern engineering tools such as computer-aided design (CAD) software In addition, engineers working for an automobile manufacturer such as Ford must be very concerned about what tires are specified for the vehicles they design, how the tires are manufactured, and howw they will interact with the vehicle During the spring of 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into the tire failures after receiving numerous complaints of failures leading to rollovers on SUVs. The tires implicated in this problem were manufactured by Firestone, a major international supplier of tires. The problem appeared to be that the tread would separate from the body of the tire Firestone was originally a company headquartered in the United States, but had been purchased by the Japanese tire manufacturer, Bridgestone. Although the number of incidents was small, the tire separation often led to a rollover of the vehicle, which caused severe injury or death of the occupants. Although tire separation and subsequent rollovers were a problem on several SUV models, the rollover problem appeared to be the most severe for Firestone tires mounted on the Ford Explorer

Explanation / Answer

Answer (a)

Canons viloated by Ford:

Canons viloated by Firestone

Answer - (b)

1. Procedural - Procedural accidents are perhaps the most common and are the result of someone making a bad choice or not following established procedures.

2. Engineered - Engineered accidents are caused by the flaws in the design, these are failures of materials devices that don't perform as expected or devices that don't perform well under all circumstances.

3. Systematic - Systematic accidents are harder to understand and harder to control, they are characteristic of very complex technologies and the complex organization that are required to operate them.

Therefore, under given set of circumstances, Definately and clearly accidents are outcome of Engineered flaws which is done by the Firestone majorly and Ford carelessly.

Thank you

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse E
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.