Biomedical Engineering: Honesty And Integrity Strategies (Essay Sample)

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Questions (a)Inflators many of Takata airbags contain a defect that may could cause them to explode and send metal pieces into cars.
The fault lies in how the Takata airbags were intended to inflate when they were activated. They used ammonium nitrate compound that helps the bag go from its very compact form to something big enough to protect passenger body or head in a collision. The ammonium nitrate can break down and become unbalanced when the car is exposed to temperature variations or moisture leading to a risk of explosion.
Takata suggested propellant compounds were mishandled and poorly stored during manufacture, which supposedly made the metal airbag inflators to rupture due to the extreme pressure inside. Later on, the company imputed humid weather and spurred additional recalls. According to Takata bad welds or rust could cause the fault. However, documents obtained by reporters about the issue showed that in the year 2002, Takata’s factory in Mexico allowed an error rate that was “six to eight times above” acceptable limits.
Initially, Takata suggested that seat belt breakdowns were as consequence of user misuse, rather than a device failure. However, an investigation by NHTSA reasoned that the cause of the error was the buckles which were built of ABS plastic. Through exposure to ultraviolet light over time, the plastic grew brittle, and pieces fell off, causing a jamming of the discharge button mechanism.
(b) Honesty and Integrity
Biomedical Engineering is an influential and learned profession. As members of this field, engineers are required to display the highest standards of integrity and honesty. Engineering has a direct and important influence on the public life. Accordingly, the services rendered by engineers require fairness, honesty, impartiality, and equity, and must be committed to the safeguarding of public health, welfare, and safety. Engineers must perform under a standard of professional behavior that requires adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct.
When conducting research that put human life at risk the researcher should give credible results for a proper action to be taken in order to save human life. The researcher should also be able to pay attention to the requirements of institution and organs he/she is conducting the report for. Bearing in mind the respect of human rights.
(c) (i) In the case of the defective airbags, explain the need for such a large scale global recall.
When there is a car operating with a faulty airbag it should be recalled for the manufacturer to rectify the faulty airbag since it puts the life of driver and passengers at risks. There have been many cases of deaths that occurred have occurred around the world due to faulty airbag, when manufacture of the cars receives complaints they will be ...