Isaac Vrba

Ethics Essay
December 11, 2022

According to The Oxford Dictionary, ethics is defined as moral principles that govern a person’s
behavior or the conducting of an activity. As engineers, we have the ability to create and design
technologies that can have a profound impact on society. With such responsibility it is
important that a certain level of standards is being upheld so everyone is following a particular
set of moral values. These are used to help guide that individual into creating solutions with
others that benefit as many people as possible while minimizing any negative impacts that may
result from putting the plan into action. With a set of written standards necessary, today we
follow some sort of Code of Ethics that are to help us stay morally straight and to use as
reference for when we find ourselves in the hands of a tough decision.

When I am approached with an ethical decision, I first stop to think of the potential impacts
that may result from taking each particular solution, and how they weigh against one other.
From there, I would take into consideration the best options and consult people outside the
team who are more specialized with identifying overlooked aspects as well as refining the idea
by referring the IEEE Code of Ethics, Virtue of Ethics, and the 5 ‘P’s of Ethics. We learned about
these in a couple of my classes and believe they provide a great standard of ethics for engineers
to follow. I will have PDFs for further reading on those sets of ethics if you’re interested.
These ethical considerations introduced in class did not differ too far from where I stood at the
start of the semester, but they did mainly differ in how each point alone relate to one another.
For example, the list from IEEE was only 10 points, six basic virtue characteristics listed, and
only five ‘P’s! I was expecting a several page document that went into fine detail. Instead, they
were just simple principles that when all of them are followed, it clearly describes the level of
thinking that one should have when conducing their work.

In my program discovery class this semester, we discussed some ethical issues that had a
serious impact on society and viewed those events with a keen eye towards the ethics of the
situations. The first issue was about Volkswagen deploying sophisticated software to cheat
emissions tests in 2015, the second on Ford Motor’s dangerous design on the Pinto subcompact
car during the 1970’s, and the last was about the Amazon Echo’s saved conversation data being
sought after by law enforcement to help solve a murder case in 2015. Out of all of these, I
thought the Ford Pinto case was the most interesting.
During 1968, the Vice President of Ford Motor’ proposed a project that quickly gained
popularity with members within the company. The idea was to build a car at or below 2000
pounds and to sell for no more than $2000 ($17,100 in 2022). During the testing phase of their
prototypes, they saw that during rear-end accidents, the fuel system would be punctured by
the rear-axel and spray gasoline into the cab of the car. A solution was conceptualized that
fixed this and it would have only costed $11.
They conducted a study and calculated that the costs of installing the fix was nearly three times
as expensive than their found benefits. Ford decided that the Pinto would be produced without
the fix. It was a group consensus that this decision mainly violated the Virtues of Ethics’
“Priorities,” and that Ford’s priorities where focused more on making a profit than to prevent
the hundreds of serious burn injuries/deaths that they calculated would be saved.
I also believe out of the Virtues of Ethics discussed, honesty and responsibility were violated.
Honesty was violated by every member below the Vice President who “signed off” on the
project. The decision the company chose was well above the engineer’s pay and it led to Ford
being sued in 1980 over claims that they knew about the dangers from front-end collisions but
failed to warn the public. Responsibility was violated by disregarding the public’s sense of
reliability, accountability, dependability, and trust towards the brand. An ethical virtue they
violated was Patience, for obvious reasons. If Ford decided to not rush the job and take the
time to fully evaluate their best options according to the proper Code of Ethics, this whole
situation could have been avoided.

There are several reasons why it is important to pay attention to the virtues of ethics when
developing solutions. First, ethical principles and virtues can help to guide decision making,
ensuring that solutions are developed in a way that is fair, just, and respectful of the rights and
interests of all those involved. Second, paying attention to ethical virtues can help to build trust
and credibility with stakeholders, including customers, employees, and the broader community.
This is because ethical virtues such as honesty, integrity, and transparency are important for
maintaining good relationships and building a positive reputation. Finally, paying attention to
ethical virtues can also help to avoid potential negative consequences, such as legal or
regulatory penalties, public backlash, or damage to the organization's reputation.