DETROIT (AP) — Ford and Mazda are warning the owners of more than 475,000 older vehicles in the U.S. not to drive them because they have dangerous Takata air bag inflators that have not been replaced.
The warning issued Tuesday covers more than 374,000 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles from the 2004 through 2014 model years and nearly 83,000 Mazdas from the 2003 through 2015 model years.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the inflators can explode with too much force in a crash, blowing apart a metal canister and shooting fragments that can severely injure or kill people. All were recalled previously but repairs have not been completed.
Ford models covered by the warning include 2004 to 2011 Ranger pickups, 2005 through 2014 Mustangs, 2005 and 2006 Ford GTs, 2006 through 2012 Fusions and 2007 through 2010 Edge SUVs.
Affected Mercury and Lincoln models include the Milan, MKZ and Zephyr from 2006 through 2012, and the MKX from 2007 through 2010.
Mazdas covered by the warning are the 2004 to 2009 B-Series pickup, 2003 through 2013 Mazda 6, the 2006 and 2007 Speed6 and the 2004 through 2011 RX-8. Also included are the 2004 through 2006 MPV, the 2007 through 2012 CX-7 and the 2007 through 2015 CX-9.
The government says 27 people have been killed in the U.S. by faulty Takata inflators, which used volatile ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate air bags in a crash. The chemical can deteriorate over time when exposed to high temperatures and humidity. More than 400 people in the U.S. have been hurt.
Worldwide at least 35 people have been killed by Takata inflators in Malaysia, Australia and the U.S.
Potential for a dangerous malfunction led to the largest series of auto recalls in U.S. history, with at least 67 million Takata inflators involved. The U.S. government says many have not been repaired. About 100 million inflators have been recalled worldwide. The exploding air bags sent Takata into bankruptcy.
Owners can check to see if their vehicles are covered by going to the NHTSA website and keying in their vehicle identification or license plate numbers.Ford and Mazda also have recall websites.
If a vehicle has an unrepaired Takata inflator, owners should stop driving them and call a dealer to set up a repair appointment. Ford and Mazda are offering free towing or mobile repairs and loaner vehicles if necessary, NHTSA says.
“Even minor crashes can result in exploding Takata air bags that can kill or produce life-altering, gruesome injuries,” the agency said in a statement. “Older model year vehicles put their occupants at higher risk.”
Ford says more than 765,000 inflators in Ford and Lincoln vehicles worldwide should not be driven until the air bag inflators have been replaced. In the U.S., the company has made more than 121 million attempts to contact owners including emails, phone calls, text messages and visits to customer homes. The company says over 95% of its U.S. customers have had their inflators replaced.
Nissan, Honda, Stellantis, Ford, BMW and Toyota and Mazda have previously issued similar “do not drive” warnings for some of their vehicles equipped with Takata inflators.
FILE - This Oct. 24, 2021 file photo shows a Ford company logo on a sign at a Ford dealership in southeast Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - This Feb. 14, 2013, file photo, shows the Mazda logo on a sign at the 2013 Pittsburgh Auto Show, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is quieter on Friday, and U.S. stocks are drifting after they leaped to records the day before during a worldwide rally.
The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in early trading but still on track for its fifth winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 66 points, or 0.2%, after it likewise set an all-time high the day before. The Nasdaq composite was virtually flat, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.
FedEx dragged on the market with a drop of 14% after its profit and revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. It said U.S. customers sent fewer packages through priority services, while it had to contend with higher wages for workers and other costs. FedEx also cut its forecast for revenue growth for its fiscal year.
Helping to offset that was Nike, which ran 7.5% higher after it named Elliott Hill as its chief executive. Hill, 60, had spent more than three decades at Nike in various leadership positions before retiring in 2020. He replaces the retiring John Donahoe.
Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group slumped another 6% as its biggest shareholder, former President Donald Trump, won the freedom to sell his shares if he wants.
Trump owns more than half of the $3 billion company behind the Truth Social platform. But Trump and other insiders in the company had been unable to cash in because a “lock-up agreement” prevented them from selling any of their shares. Trump has said he’s in no rush to sell.
TMTG’s drop on Friday was in line with its volatile history. Over the last six months, it’s often swung by at least 5% in a day, up or down.
Homebuilder Lennar fell 4.2% after delivering a mixed earnings report. Its profit for the latest quarter topped expectations. But it also said it made less in profit on each $100 of home sales, and it expects that margin to stay flat in the current quarter.
Conditions may be set to improve for homebuilders, though. The Federal Reserve earlier this week cut its main interest for the first time in more than four years, a move that could make mortgages more affordable for home buyers.
The momentous move closed the door on a run where the Fed kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the U.S. economy enough to stamp out high inflation. Now that inflation has fallen from its peak two summers ago, Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed can focus more on keeping the job market solid and the economy out of a recession.
The Fed is still under pressure because the job market and hiring have begun to slow under the weight of higher interest rates. Some critics say the central bank waited too long to cut rates and may have damaged the economy.
Critics also say the U.S. stock market may be running too hot on hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to pull off what seemed nearly impossible a couple years ago: getting inflation down to 2% without creating a recession.
Barry Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel, is still calling for a sharp drop for the S&P 500 by the end of the year. He points to how much faster stock prices have climbed than profits at companies. When stocks have looked this expensive on such measures in the past, he said a recession and sharp downturn for stocks has followed.
He also warned in a report that slowing hiring “is now symbolic of recession risk.”
No economic releases are on the calendar for Friday to show where the economy may be heading. Next week will have preliminary reports on U.S. business activity, the final revision for how quickly the economy grew during the summer and the latest update on spending by U.S. consumers.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.75% from 3.72% late Thursday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe after rising in Asia. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% after the Bank of Japan left interest rates steady, as was expected.
In China, the central bank left key lending rates unchanged on Friday. Indexes rose by 1.4% in Hong Kong and less than 0.1% in Shanghai.
__
AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
A bus passes the Wall St. subway station on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
Trader Michale Conlon, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's news conference appears on a television screen behind him, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index and Japanese Yen exchange rate at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People ride bicycles in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
