Ford Allowed 77 People to Die Instead of Paying 3 Cents
While Ford did have the largest recall in the 1990s, they nearly faced a much bigger recall in the 1980s. From 1966 until 1980, Ford automatic transmissions had one very big flaw. The transmission had the potential to slip from park into reverse and this would cause the car to start rolling backward. Ford Motor Company did not see the problem as that big of an issue, but it eventually became a very big issue that nearly led to the recall of 23 million cars.
In 1980, the truth was exposed by Mother Jones and the Detroit Free Press. Both issued reports stating that Ford had been aware of the defect since 1972 and had done nothing to fix it. A design improvement that would have solved the problem was valued at $0.03, but the improvement was rejected by Ford. When issues did arise, Ford decided it was better to pay $20 million to the affected victims and their families rather than doing a massive recall.
The NHTSA investigated and found that 777 accidents occurred as a result of the defect. There were 259 injuries and 77 deaths from those accidents and it was enough to have the NHTSA to considering order a recall of every single car with the defective transmission, which would amount to about 23 million cars. Ford knew that such a recall would bankrupt them, so they pleaded with the Reagan administration for help.
In the end, there was a compromise struck in which Ford would mail out 23 million stickers for owners to put in their cars that would remind them to “make sure the gear shift is fully in park” and to “engage the parking brake” before shutting off the car.