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Ford Recalls About 260,000 Vehicles 

DETROIT (June 13) - Ford Motor Co. is recalling nearly 260,000 vehicles, most of them large pickup trucks, to fix safety defects that include sudden stalling of diesel engines, federal safety regulators said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the stalling problem affects F-Series Super Duty pickups from the 2004-2005 model years as well as the 2004-2005 Ford Excursion full-size sport utility vehicle and E350 and E450 vans.

About 180,100 of these vehicles are equipped with 6.0 liter diesel engines and the recall stems from a potentially faulty fuel injection control module, NHTSA said.

Beyond the 260,000 vehicles that NHTSA revealed, Ford said an additional 18,000 vehicles are also being recalled in Canada and Mexico, company spokeswoman Kristen Kinley told Reuters on Monday.

Two reports of minor injuries have been linked to the problem, Kinley said.

She said Ford was also investigating 2003 model-year F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks equipped with the 6.0 liter diesel engines due to various engine performance issues.

Ford, which has warned of significantly lower earnings this year, has said its core automotive operations may not be profitable in 2005. The second-largest U.S. automaker also has been losing U.S. sales and market share to Japanese-led rivals.

Separately, NHTSA said on Monday Ford was recalling 78,675 Super Duty pickups and chassis cab vehicles from the 2005 model year because their fuel line may separate from the main fuel bundle.

Fuel line separation can cause engine stalling or leakage, possibly resulting in a fire, NHTSA said.

The agency identified the trucks affected by the recall as F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550 Super Duty pickups and said they were equipped with 5.4 or 6.8 liter gasoline engines.

No accidents or injuries have been linked to the fuel line problem, Kinley said.

Ford shares were up 2 cents, or 0.19 percent, at $10.35 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Reut12:39 06-13-05

06-13-05 12:22 EDT

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