Is it that universal though? I know it was 40 years ago now, but when management overrode engineers to sign off on the disastrous launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger, I don't think they faced any legal consequences.

I've always been uncomfortable, honestly, with calling software developers "engineers". Partly that's because it's actually illegal to call a non-PEng role an "engineer" in some jurisdictions (most of Canada), but I think this comment is an excellent point of distinction to make between PEng and other roles.

Legal responsibility along with regulatory requirements. There's a reason everyone* trusts elevators and airplanes but shouldn't trust most software.

Too late. They already outsourced it to someone who promised to get it done in one day for half the price.

Of course, it will take six months to fix all the problems it causes, but that is next quarter's problem.