Ford recalls 500,000 vehicles over ‘flammable flooring’

Ford Motor Company has recalled over 500,00 pickup trucks after finding that carpet flooring in certain models could start fires with the potential to “spread within the vehicle”, the auto maker said in a statement.

The recall included Ford Super Duty pickup truck models between the years of 2017 and 2019 sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and followed reports of at least one fire related to this condition in the US.

Ford said in its statement that a mechanism within the seatbelt that goes into effect during a crash may “generate excessive sparks” within those models that can “ignite the carpet” on the floor of the vehicle.

In total, the recall includes 547,538 of the Super Duty pickup trucks: 490,574 of those were sold in the US, while 56,112 were in Canada and another 852 were in Mexico.

Ford is a Michigan-based company with a truck plant located in Kentucky where the 2017 through 2019 Super Duty pickup trucks were built, the company said in its statement.

The seatbelt mechanism, known as a “pretensioner”, caused similar problems in approximately two millions vehicles across North America just last year, when Ford recalled the 2015 through 2018 Ford F-150 Regular Cab and SuperCrew Cab cars.

The company said in a statement at the time: “Ford’s investigation found that some front seat belt pretensioners can generate excessive sparks when they deploy.”

Ford said the “carpet may subsequently catch fire” in those vehicles as well if “sufficient sparks are present”.

Ford recalls are made available at no cost to the company’s consumers.

Additional reporting by Reuters