Total Recall?

U.S. warns; Ford resists

A driver brakes and shifts into park. His passenger jumps out while the engine is running and slams the door. The transmission pops into reverse, and the car lurches backward. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week made an "initial determination" that some such sequence has been happening often enough to Ford Motor Co. vehicles to suggest a flaw in their automatic-transmission design. It was a step toward ordering the biggest recall in history, involving some 16 million Ford cars and trucks built between 1972 and 1979.

The NHTSA said it had received 23,000 complaints, which included 98 deaths. Ford protested that transmission failures occur no more often in its cars than those of other manufacturers, and that it had not been able to spot any design defect.

If the NHTSA orders a recall, Ford, already reeling from the auto sales slump, is expected to fight. It could challenge the order in court. Or it could propose a compromise, such as installing a warning light or buzzer to warn drivers when the transmission is not fully locked into park. Even that could cost, says Ford, more than $300 million.

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