Ford will recall 3 million vehicles for the purchase of airbags at a cost of $ 610 million

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co said on Thursday that it will recall 3 million vehicles for air bag inflators that could break, at a cost of $ 610 million.

The National Road Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday ordered Ford to issue the recall to the driver’s side air bag inflators, rejecting the 2017 automaker’s petition to avoid it.

The defect, which on rare occasions leads to the rupture of airbag inflators and the launch of potentially deadly metal fragments, has led to the largest automotive recall in the history of the United States, with more than 67 million inflators. Worldwide, nearly 100 million inflators installed by 19 major automakers have been collected.

The recall includes 2.7 million U.S. vehicles. Ford will include the cost in the fourth quarter results.

The vehicles were previously collected for passenger side inflators. “We believe that our extensive data demonstrated that a safety recall was not guaranteed for the driver’s side airbag. However, we respect the NHTSA decision and will issue a recall, ”said Ford.

NHTSA also required Mazda Motor Corp to recall 5,800 air bag inflators in the 2007-2009 B-Series vehicles.

Takata inflators have resulted in at least 400 injuries and 27 deaths worldwide – including 18 deaths in the U.S., with two in 2006 Ford Ranger trucks collected earlier.

The recalled Ford vehicles include several Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr / MKZ, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX vehicles from 2006-2012.

In November, NHTSA rejected a petition filed by General Motors Co to avoid recalling 5.9 million U.S. vehicles with Takata airbags. GM said the callback covered 7 million vehicles worldwide and would cost $ 1.2 billion.

Ford separately disclosed on Thursday that it expects to record a $ 1.5 billion pre-tax revaluation loss in the fourth quarter related to pension plans and other post-employment benefits, driven by lower discount rates.

Ford said the loss of remeasurement is expected to reduce net income by about $ 1.2 billion, but has not changed expectations for pension contributions for 2021.