Introduction
Every business and manufacturing company should maintain high ethical standards and comply with strict rules and regulations to ensure the delivery of safe goods and services. Industries such as automobiles have to face additional challenges because they can potentially harm their consumers if they produce substandard products such as cars. In every production line, there is always a possibility of producing unsafe products either deliberately or due to failure in the machines in the production line (Jiang, Fang, & Zhang, 2015). Implementing the procedures and policies that help reduce the risks of producing substandard goods and services is ethical and a legal requirement across all industries. This paper focuses on the ethical issues and concepts relating to the automobile industry.
Unsafe Products
All the consumers, regardless of the social and economic status, are entitled to quality and safe products, and that is the reason why rules and regulations exist to guide all the production processes. Selling products that are not safe or certified is equivalent to infringing the rights of the consumers (VisCusi, 2012). Unsafe products are likely to endanger consumers’ lives, and other products, especially the consumables, can kill or compromise the health of the consumers. The companies that sell unsafe cars are illegal and unethical because they know using a substandard car is endangering the lives of those on board. Selling unsafe cars is also unlawful because automobile manufacturing industries are required to carry out safety inspections before supplying their vehicles for sale. If the vehicle fails the inspection tests, it means that it is not fit for use and should never be sold to any person because it is not roadworthy. In my opinion, the companies that sell their unsafe cars are illegal because they are working against the laws that require automobile industries to produce and conduct safety inspections to their vehicles before taking them to the market. These companies are also unethical because they do not care about people who will use the unsafe vehicle, and their objective is only to make more and more money at the expense of human life.
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A dire ethical dilemma will arise if the car manufactured by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi will explode, killing all the people on board and fails to recall the vehicle from the market. Even though the company decides to give some money to the affected families, it is not ethical because no monetary value is equivalent to human life. In this case, an ethical dilemma occurs because the company seems to pretend as if they care about the families whose loved ones perished during the explosion, but then they fail to recall this type of car from the market. Failing to recall these cars means that many other similar accidents are likely to occur in the future, killing more people. The company is prioritizing on profits rather than considering the lives of those who use their cars, and this is unethical.
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi company could have been fair if they could recall the cars and make necessary changes so that in the future, such deadly accidents cannot occur. Recalling the vehicle is being ethical and caring to their potential customers. Making sure the defects in the car undergo rectification is a sure way of making these vehicles safe and reliable. It is therefore clear that selling defective products is against human rights, but it also endangers the lives of the consumers. Automobiles such as Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi should prioritize the lives of their consumers by ensuring that they produce safe vehicles that will not compromise the safety of those using the cars and the other road users.
Executive Actions
There is a scenario where the Renault executive, including the top management, understated their salary for an extended period and also transferring personal losses into the company books. It is also illegal to receive some of the benefits, such as compensation of unlawful ventures because this compromises the company’s ethics. As a consultant, my concern is about ensuring that the company produces quality and reliable cars that do not compromise consumers’ safety. The action to address that concern is to ensure that the automotive company conducts a thorough safety inspection of all the cars that they manufacture before selling them. I recommend the Renault executive team and board of directors to ensure that they recall all the vehicles with defects and make appropriate changes to make them safe. This process might seem expensive, but its benefits of saving many lives of the car and road users cannot be underestimated.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is one of the ethical theories that help determine what is right from wrong, basing it on the outcomes. This theory believes that the majority of the moral choices are those that produce the highest good for most people (Gustafson, 2013). The theory is essential in business because it enables one to account for the cost and benefit. However, since it is difficult to predict the future, it is impossible to know whether the outcome could be good or bad.
Conclusion
Admittedly, the production and selling of unsafe products are unethical and illegal because they compromise the safety of people who use such products. The automobile manufacturing companies should be at the forefront, ensuring that the cars that they put on the roads are safe, and by doing that, they will save many lives. It is essential to ensure that all the executive leaders and the board of directors in the companies uphold ethics, and this is vital in achieving safe goods and services from the industries and companies.
References
Gustafson, A. (2013). In defense of a utilitarian business ethic. Business and Society Review, 118(3) , 325-360.
Jiang, Z., Fang, D., & Zhang, M. (2015). Understanding the causation of construction workers’ unsafe behaviors based on system dynamics modeling. Journal of Management in Engineering, 31(6) , 40-49.
VisCusi, W. K. (2012). Does Product Liability Make Us Safer. Regulation, 35 , 24.
