Ford Pinto: What could have been an easier way to protect the fuel tank - Research Paper Example

These solutions include the repositioning of the gas tank from behind to above of the rear axle in order to reduce the direct contact of the gas tank and the rear axle of the Ford Pinto. The other proposed solutions are that of placing a heavy rubber bladder inside the fuel tank, installing a plastic part between the fuel tank and the real axel, installing a stronger bumper that can withstand more impact force during a collision, and finally installing a stronger frame on the Ford Pinto that does not buckle in case of collision.

Table of Contents Abstract 1 1.0Introduction 2 2.0 Background 3 3.0 Findings 5 3.1 Mechanical Solutions to the fuel tank faults 5 3.1.1 Placing a heavy rubber bladder inside the gas tank 5 3.1.2 Installing a plastic part 6 3.1.3 Placement of the fuel tank 6 3.1.4 Placing a piece of steel between the tank and the bumper 7 3.1.5 Installation of a strong bumper 7 3.1.6 Putting a frame on Ford Pinto 8 4.0 Conclusion 9 5.0 Work Cited 10 Appendix A 12 14 1.0 Introduction The CCDP 2100 course requires the submission of the final report whose purpose is to discuss and answer a given research question.

In this report therefore, the researched question was what could have been an easier way to protect the fuel tank? The development of this report has been done based on the explanation of the technical concept, requested proposal question, and the team logbook. Contained in the Appendix A is the researched question as well as the final presentation’s summary. Consequently, the figure 1 highlights and illustrates the failures in design of the Ford Pinto. In particular, it discusses the areas that were ignored by Ford engineers, which if they were to be improved could have produced an excellent Pinto [4, p.6]. The background illustrates the mechanical fault committed in the manufacture of the Pinto car model, its consequences to the car users, and the appropriate mechanical solution.

Consequently, the mechanical faults are examined as the flaws, which were realized in the location of gas tank in addition. The solution part contains the proposed solutions to these mechanical flaws. This constitutes the main discussion whereby it is suggested that the protection of the gas tank and correct positioning of the tank would bring the appropriate solution to the mechanical faults of the Ford Pint [4, p. 8]. 2.0 Background The Pinto car is one of the cars that took the attention of many due to the make and performance.

It took less than 25 months from conception to production to launch the car [1, p.51]. This was contrary to the estimated normal time of at least 45 months used to produce other Ford models [1, p.51]. This resulted to competition from Volkswagen for the small car market that was emerging. It should be noted that even though the engineers discovered the fault with the gas tank at pre-production[2, p.151]. and during the crash test, they ignored it and went ahead to release the car into the market.

To make matters worse, even after several deaths were caused by the explosion of the gas tank, Ford lobbyist continued to lobby against the proposal to introduce safety measures in the Pinto that would have corrected the gas tank [2, p.151]. During crash test of the model, it was realized that if the car was to be knocked on the rear-end by a