Ford recalling millions of trucks over fire concerns in seat-belt system

Ford Motor Co. is recalling 2 million F-150 pickup trucks across North America over fire concerns in their seat-belt systems.

The company said in a statement Thursday that some front-seat pretensioners could create excessive sparks, causing a fire.

Pretensioners use explosive charges to hold seat belts in place during a car crash.

Ford said it has 23 reports of smoke or fire related to seat belt pretensioners in the U.S. and Canada, but has not received complaints of any injuries as a result.

{mosads}The recall will include 2015-2018 Ford F-150 Regular Cab and SuperCrew Cab vehicles, resulting in a recall of 1.62 million vehicles in the U.S., 340,000 in Canada, and 37,000 in Mexico.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last month that it was investigating five reports of fires related to the pretensioners, Reuters noted. Canadian authorities contacted Ford last November about a fire near a pretensioner on a 2015 model, leading to a joint vehicle inspection, the news service added.

To eliminate the fire risk, Ford will remove some insulation and wire harness tape from the recalled truck’s B pillar areas, which are the vertical supports behind vehicles’ front-seat windows.

The company will also add heat-resistant tape to the carpet and B pillar insulation and modify the back interior panels of Regular Cab vehicles.