AIRBAG RECALL TO COST FORD US$610M AS APPEAL REJECTED

Ford Motor Co., after losing an appeal to federal safety regulators last week, now must spend us$610 million to replace faulty Takata airbags in three million cars and trucks in the united States and Canada. The company is reporting the expense as a special item in its fourth-quarter results, which won’t affect its adjusted earnings, it revealed in a regulatory filing. The recalled vehicles are from model years 2006 through 2012 and include some of Ford’s best sellers of that era, such as the Fusion sedan, Edge sport-utility vehicle and Ranger pickup. The automaker attempted to avoid the airbag recall, asserting the particular Takata inflators in its models weren’t as lethal as those that have been linked to more than a dozen deaths in the u.s. because they could propel shrapnel at drivers and passengers.