The Devil Has a Name

Trivia: To put the Ford Pinto case in perspective, the $11 cost per car to recall and repair would amount to about $70 today and the $200,000 cost per death ("price of a life") would be about $1.2 million. Ford executives made other estimates and determined that they would have had to reduce the cost to recall from $11 to $3.96 to "break even."

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Trivia: In the Ford Pinto case, executives did a cost/benefit analysis comparing the amount to recall 12.5 million cars/trucks at $11 each vs not making the recall and essentially letting people die in fiery crashes or suffer severe burn injuries. Each fatality was estimated to cost $200,000 - the price of letting people die in fiery crashes from the Pinto's fuel tank exploding upon rear-end collisions. Interestingly, it was the National Highway Safety Admin that provided the figure $200,725 in 1972.

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Factual error: Attorney Aegis inappropriately rounded up/down a couple common statistics pertaining to the infamous Ford Pinto case, which resulted in a total that didn't add up: "it would cost the company $11 per Pinto to fix the problem. But with 12 million [should be 12.5] of 'em on the road, that would cost $137 million compared with $50 million [should be 49.5] to maintain the status quo. $137 million to fix a $50 million problem..." But 12 million x $11 = $132 million [not $137 million]. (00:24:38)

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More mistakes in The Devil Has a Name

Gigi: Gentlemen, I've come to find that the Devil has a name. If you're growing apples, you're in Eden. Almonds, you're east, central California to be exact. There are 53 different types of nuts in the world. He was one of them. (00:04:12)

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