by MSI » Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:52 am
Ford recall hits 4.5 million vehicles
Automaker issues largest single recall ever due to a faulty cruise control switch that could lead to a fire.
By Hibah Yousuf,
CNNMoney.com,October 13, 2009
NEW YORK (
CNNMoney.com) --
Ford issued the largest single recall in its history Tuesday as drivers of an additional 4.5 million vehicles were alerted about a fire hazard from a faulty switch.
The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this was the eighth recall, involving a total of 16 million Ford Motor (
F, Fortune 500) vehicles, concerning the cruise control deactivation switch manufactured by Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500).
The faulty switch can leak hydraulic fluid, overheat, smoke and then burn, and risks causing a fire even when the ignition is turned off, parked and unattended, the
NHTSA said.
The risk is elevated for 1.1 million Windstars that were subject to a government investigation, said Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood.
We determined with the government that there is a low risk of fires for those vehicles," Sherwood said. "The other 3.4 million vehicles are the remaining vehicles that have the Texas Instrument switch, so we're recalling them to reassure customers and prevent future recalls."
Sherwood added that Ford has always gone beyond recalling only the cars that present a risk.
Full Story
Also from
New York Times.com:
"Addressing concerns over fires,
Ford is conducting a recall of 4.5 million vehicles in the United States equipped with speed control deactivation switches from Texas Instruments. The switches have already been the subject of six recalls.
Recalls began in 1999 and covered some 10 million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles from 1992 to 2004.
This means that
more than 14 million Ford vehicles have been recalled for this problem, a record number for a single problem, according to the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The earlier recalls involved the
Texas Instruments cruise-control deactivation switch, which was powered at all times and could develop a short circuit. That could cause a vehicle to catch fire even while it was parked and the ignition was off.
The agency issued a consumer advisory in February 2008 because vehicles were continuing to catch fire and in some cases were burning down garages.
[url=http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/13/news/companies/Ford_recall/index.htm][size=150][b]Ford recall hits 4.5 million vehicles[/b][/size][/url]
Automaker issues largest single recall ever due to a faulty cruise control switch that could lead to a fire.
By Hibah Yousuf, [url=http://money.cnn.com]CNNMoney.com[/url],October 13, 2009
NEW YORK ([url=http://money.cnn.com]CNNMoney.com[/url]) -- [url=http://www.ford.com]Ford[/url] issued the largest single recall in its history Tuesday as drivers of an additional 4.5 million vehicles were alerted about a fire hazard from a faulty switch.
The [url=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/]National Highway Traffic Safety Administration[/url] said this was the eighth recall, involving a total of 16 million Ford Motor ([url=http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:F]F[/url], Fortune 500) vehicles, concerning the cruise control deactivation switch manufactured by Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500).
The faulty switch can leak hydraulic fluid, overheat, smoke and then burn, and risks causing a fire even when the ignition is turned off, parked and unattended, the [url=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/]NHTSA[/url] said.
The risk is elevated for 1.1 million Windstars that were subject to a government investigation, said Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood.
We determined with the government that there is a low risk of fires for those vehicles," Sherwood said. "The other 3.4 million vehicles are the remaining vehicles that have the Texas Instrument switch, so we're recalling them to reassure customers and prevent future recalls."
Sherwood added that Ford has always gone beyond recalling only the cars that present a risk.
[url=http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/13/news/companies/Ford_recall/index.htm][b]Full Story[/b][/url]
Also from [url=http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/ford-is-recalling-more-vehicles-over-fire-problem/?ref=business]New York Times.com[/url]:
"Addressing concerns over fires, [url=http://www.ford.com]Ford[/url] is conducting a recall of 4.5 million vehicles in the United States equipped with speed control deactivation switches from Texas Instruments. The switches have already been the subject of six recalls.
Recalls began in 1999 and covered some 10 million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles from 1992 to 2004.
This means that [u]more than [size=150]14 million [url=http://www.ford.com]Ford[/url] vehicles [/size]have been recalled for this problem[/u], a record number for a single problem, according to the [url=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/]National Highway Traffic Safety Administration[/url].
The earlier recalls involved the [url=http://www.google.com/finance?q=texas+instruments]Texas Instruments[/url] cruise-control deactivation switch, which was powered at all times and could develop a short circuit. That could cause a vehicle to catch fire even while it was parked and the ignition was off.
The agency issued a consumer advisory in February 2008 because vehicles were continuing to catch fire and in some cases were burning down garages.