Seatbelts force Ford truck recall

Under pressure from U.S. safety regulators, Ford is recalling about two million F-150 pickup trucks in North America, including nearly 340,000 in Canada, because the seatbelts can spark and cause fires when they deploy during a crash.

The recall of F-150 pickup trucks from the 2015 through 2018 model years comes about one month after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating fires, including three that destroyed trucks.

Ford said Thursday that it has reports of smoke or fire in 17 U.S. trucks and six Canadian trucks, but it’s not aware of any injuries.

According to Ford, seatbelt pretensioners can generate excessive sparks when they tighten before a crash. That can ignite gases inside a support pillar between the front and rear seats, causing insulation and carpet to catch fire.

The affected Regular Cab and SuperCrew Cab trucks were built between March 12, 2014 and Aug. 23, 2018, according to documents posted Thursday by NHTSA. A similar notice was issued by Transport Canada.

The seatbelt pretensioners were made by ZF-TRW and Takata, the now-defunct airbag and seatbelt maker that was purchased by Joyson, another auto parts supplier.

Dealers will remove insulation and install heat-resistant tape to repair the trucks. They also will remove remnants of wiring tape and modify interior panels in Regular Cab trucks.