background information
Toyota has called back more than four million vehicles around the world because of errors on the gas pedal and brake systems, errors that could cost human lives. Currently the U.S. government is putting pressure on Toyota for an explanation. The head of the U.S. agency (Medford) that regulates auto safety had been given the tasks by Bush administrations to take immediate personal contact with Toyota, emphasizing that Toyota needs to deal with this problem and find a solution.
Should Toyota have informed people immediately, and faced the cost of their mistake?
This error can be a fatal error that could cost human lives. My opinion is that people are able to judge and choose which car to buy. than it is very important for the car producer to keep the promise (a safe car) when influencing someone’s judgment. It brings us in the context of morality is ought to be invisible in a well ordered society. In the free market we ought to trust another, protecting property rights, and eventually protects from things that could do any harm (especially when it could costs someone’s live. When you create a product it should be safe and reliable. In a market the consumer expects, that they can trust that no harm will be done to them when buying a product. As a car-producer you are responsible to protect your customer from any harm that could be done to them. This is a rule that exists within the car industry. It is a choice that has been made by Toyota to be in this industry and this decision has led to the obligation to be bounded within the rules of the car industry. Knowing the rules of the car-industry than they should know that this error is not allowed to occur and if it occurs than they have to take immediate action and face the cost. It is not morally permissible to save money at the expenses of human lives.
s241443
3 comments:
The situation with Toyota is very tricky. While their actions must be morally guided, considering people have died from this issue, it also must be strategic in a business sense. When Toyota first publicly announced a problem, they blamed the floor mats. After they advised all owners to remove floor mats, the issue still occurred. Had Toyota recalled all of affected vehicles right away, saying it could kill you, their business would be devastated. The reason? As far as we know, Toyota doesn't even know what is causing the unintended acceleration. If they say they have a problem with their vehicles, but no way of knowing how to fix it, they could loose all consumer trust. This is where they are currently at; people aren't sure what to believe from Toyota. On a strict moral standpoint, they have a moral obligation to alert their customers of the potential danger. As of right now, most everyone is aware of the situation, but is this adequate? Was it done in a timely manner? Was the issue actually addressed? Only time will tell, really. In a ideal world, Toyota would openly admit all issues around their vehicles, offer some sort of compensation to affected customers, and work day and night to fix the problems. All of which have yet to take place.
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In the case of Toyota I would argue that they have acted immoral because they have violated some fundamental moral principles. First of all, they initially ignored their duty of not to cause harm to others. They did this by not immediately after noticing warn the consumers of the defect which could cause severe and even lethal harm.
A second reason for me to argue that Toyota acted immoral is that they broke the customer’s trust which is a fundamental moral value that makes the constitution of the market possible. From both moral perspectives violating this core value is immoral.
Thirdly, during the seminars we have also seen several views on product responsibility in which the contract view was the one which contained the least moral requirements. But in the Toyota case we notice that even according to this view Toyota acted immoral since it did not fulfill its basic implicit duty of not selling a defect product and thus a safe car.
S341421
From the business discourse,Toyota is a car-producer which has self-interests to maximize profit. However, they also have strong responsible of the safety of their cars that they produce. Toyota is morally wrong since they violate the responsibility and sold the defect car to their customers which could cost human lives. According to this issue, Toyota should inform the customers immediately and faced the cost of their mistake. If someone died of this error, it not just costs their money but also the whole business, specially the reputation.
S177575
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