RECALLS MAY NOT BE OVER FOR FORD.Byline: Catherine O'Brien Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Ford Motor Co.'s recall of 8.7 million vehicles left out hundreds of thousands more with ignition switches Noun 1. ignition switch - switch that operates a solenoid that closes a circuit to operate the starter ignition system, ignition - the mechanism that ignites the fuel in an internal-combustion engine that could be prone to catching fire, company documents suggest. However, Ford officials said Thursday the documents the company turned over to the government included large numbers of unsubstantiated fire reports. ``We're confident in the recall population we've gone after,'' said spokeswoman Francine Romine in Michigan. Last week, Ford said it would replace the ignition switches in 7.9 million vehicles in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and 859,000 in Canada. There have been more than 820 reports of fires from the switches in this country, and in some cases fires occurred even when the vehicles were parked and the ignitions shut off. Ford documents show the recall included most vehicle models with a high number of reported fires. But they also show that some model years which were not recalled had a higher rate of fires than many of the vehicles that were recalled. The company looked at its 1984 through 1993 vehicles with the same type of ignition switch, but did not recall any manufactured before 1988. The automaker attributed the switch fires to a faulty fault·y adj. fault·i·er, fault·i·est 1. Containing a fault or defect; imperfect or defective. 2. Obsolete Deserving of blame; guilty. design change made by a parts manufacturer in May 1987. ``There's an artificial line drawn,'' said Richard Schiffrin, a lead lawyer in a class-action lawsuit lawsuit: see procedure; tort. against Ford. He believes more vehicles should be recalled. ``Some of the vehicles recalled have lower fire rates than the pre-1988 vehicles that were not recalled,'' added Ralph Hoar, a Virginia consultant for the lawsuit. For example, the 1986 Town Car has a higher number of reported fires - 19 - and rate of fires per number of vehicles on the road than do many vehicles subject to the recall, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the documents that Ford provided to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, often pronounced "nit-suh") is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, part of the Department of Transportation. . There also are higher fire rates for the 1986 Aerostar and the 1987 Crown Victoria than for many vehicles in the recall, the documents show. |
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