Ford expands 'Do Not Drive' warning to 33,000 more pickup trucks

Ford Motor Co on Monday warned an additional 33,000 owners of older pickup trucks in North America to stop driving them until potentially defective Takata Corp air bag inflators can be repaired.

In January, Ford told 2,900 owners of model year 2006 Ford Ranger trucks to stop driving immediately after a second death was linked to inflators built on the same day.

The expanded warning was prompted by additional testing, Ford, the second largest U.S. automaker, said in a statement, and now covers a broader time frame of production.

Mazda Motor Corp said it was issuing a similar expansion for about 1,800 2006 Mazda B-Series trucks that were built by Ford after it had issued a warning for 160 trucks in January.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the vehicles pose “an immediate risk to safety” and urged owners to immediately schedule a free repair. read more »