Sunday, July 17, 2005

Safety agency widens investigation

NHTSA awaits Ford's internal report into the questionable part, which is in 16 million vehicles.

By Bill Vlasic / The Detroit News

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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.

"It's a very complex problem, and it's going to take time to get to the bottom of it," Tyson said.

One auto-safety advocate said Ford is under intense pressure to come up with answers.

"Ford's liability just continues to grow, and this has the potential to become a billion-dollar problem," said Sean Kane of Safety Research and Strategies Inc.

A number of lawsuits, including two involving fatal fires, have been filed against Ford and its suppliers, Texas Instruments Inc. and E.I. DuPont De Nemours and Co.

Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said the automaker is investigating the switches "both inside and outside the recall population."

"When the investigation is complete, Ford will report its findings as appropriate," she said. "We are working hard to resolve this issue as quickly as possible."