With
reports of vehicle fires mounting, Ford Motor
Co. is racing to meet a mid-August deadline
to provide federal investigators with details
of its analysis of faulty cruise-control deactivation
switches.
More than 500 fires
have been reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Ford
F-150 pickups, and Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
In January, Ford
announced it was recalling more than 700,000 pickups and SUVs to disconnect switches
in the engine compartment that could overheat and cause fires. In March, NHTSA
opened a broader investigation into 3.7 million additional vehicles with potentially
the same problem.
A NHTSA spokesman
said this week that the agency is deeply involved in its investigation of the
switches, but is awaiting Ford's internal data on switch failures.
"We sent Ford
a very detailed information request, which they have until mid-August to respond
to," said NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson.
As many as 16 million
Ford vehicles have switches similar to those in the recalled pickups and SUVs.
But NHTSA has yet to make public its analysis of other vehicles, and doesn't
expect to do so soon.
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