Ford and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have agreed to greatly expand a recall of the F-150 pickup truck, NHTSA said.
The vehicles will be checked for a possible short circuit that could cause airbags to deploy unexpectedly, and involves nearly 1.2m F-150 pickup trucks – the most popular vehicle in the US – and 16,000 Lincoln Mark LT vehicles, Reuters reported, citing NHTSA.
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There had been an earlier recall of 144,000 F-150s.
Ford said it knews of no crashes or injuries caused by the problem and will begin notifying vehicle owners in May. Repairs will take less than half a day.
If the airbag warning light is showing, owners should take the vehicles in immediately, Ford added, because, if the light is ignored, in some circumstances, the driver’s side front airbag could deploy unexpectedly.
According to Reuters, Ford said the airbag warning typically is illuminated for “an extended period” before the driver’s side front airbag surprises a driver by deploying and drivers should have time to safely take the vehicle to a dealer if they do so when the warning signal is first lit.
The 1.32m trucks are model years 2004 to 2006 and the problem arose from an assembly error.
Ford had earlier agreed to recall only 144,000 trucks but expanded the recall after talks with the NHTSA.
