The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday it has opened two new investigations into the Ford recalls, the latest review by regulators of the No. 2 American automakers.
Last week, Ford agreed to a $165 million civil penalty after an NHTSA investigation found the automaker failed to recall vehicles with defective rear-view cameras in a timely manner.
On Monday, the auto safety regulator opened an investigation into whether Ford should recall 112,000 Ford Expedition SUVs for seat belt problems and another into whether Ford’s recall of 456,000 SUVs due to a loss of power and a system failure electrical is adequate.
The agency has received three complaints alleging inadvertent deployment of seat belt pretensioners. Complaints referred to a loud sound followed by rapid tightening of the seat belt and staying in the locked position. The investigation follows Ford’s February recall of 77,000 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs over the issue.
NHTSA is investigating whether Ford’s April recall of about 456,000 Bronco Sport and Ford Maverick vehicles due to loss of power stemming from sudden 12-volt battery degradation is sufficient to address the issue.
The traction fix is a series of software updates designed to provide improved detection of the 12-volt battery’s state of charge, but NHTSA has received 15 reports describing incidents of loss of power for Ford Bronco Sport vehicles that received the software update.
The company said it was working with NHTSA to support both investigations.
Under the terms of NHTSA’s settlement with Ford last week, Ford must thoroughly review all recalls it has made in the past three years and, if necessary, issue new recalls.
NHTSA said Ford provided inaccurate or incomplete information, failed to submit timely quarterly reports on other recalls and was not fully compliant with the public availability of vehicle recall information. Ford said it disagreed with NHTSA’s assessment.
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