Ethics is a very important subject when it comes to professional engineers, such that the

product they deliver must be satisfactory to the customer but safe for years to come as well. The
Code of Ethics is meant to serve as guidelines for engineers to follow so they can avoid legal
prosecution further down the line. Everyone has their own code of ethics, generally built up in
childhood. For me it is fairly simple to make a hard decision, even if it requires me taking the
heat, but I always want to know for certain that it was my fault. My ethics are more based off
facts, whoever messed up should be held accountable.

Some ethical issues that we discussed were faulty cars be sold by Ford, and in this case, it
violated the ethic of Priority. They calculated the cost of human life and determined that the risk
was worth the reward, meaning the placed money over life. Also, early test flights by NASA did
the same thing: they were so preoccupied with a goal they overlooked several aspects of safety
and put many astronauts in danger. The ethical decisions made by companies when compared to
my own differ drastically, because when it comes to priorities safety should be number one. In
my case, I would have not given the go ahead on a product that is faulty and worked until it was
usable. Overall the class agreed that when it comes to finishing a project, a “Go Ahead” means
that it works with no danger to the public.

When it comes to the 6 Virtue Ethics, the three that stand out to me are Responsibility,
Honesty, and Integrity. Our group discussed Ford’s faulty cheap car that would light on fire after
crashes, and marketed the car ignoring any concerns. Ford was conflicted between their priorities
and was influenced by the power they knew they had. They had the power to cover up
complaints, prioritized money, and were too prideful to admit something was wrong with the car.
When it comes to the three Virtues I selected, Ford was responsible for the welfare of the public,
but disregarded it. They were lying to the people that bought the cars even after errors started to
appear, and finally they chose profit over human life (Integrity). Learning from this I feel another
Virtue should be added: Humility. Most times simply admitting that a mistake was made can
save companies from a lot of trouble down the road. Instead most companies try to sweep it
under the rug and hide it from the public's eye. In Ford’s case a recall of all the cars to output a
functional and safe vehicle would have saved their reputation tremendously