Ford Motor Co., which on Thursday posted its first full-year profit since 2005, has stopped production of a transit van in China after discovering it was equipped with similar pedals to those behind a mass recall at rival Toyota Motor Corp.
The accelerator pedals on Ford’s full-sized Transit Classic diesel van have been supplied by CTS Corp since December. Indiana-based CTS also supplied pedals to Toyota.
Ford, which makes the transit van with joint venture partner Jiangling Motor, said 1,663 vehicles had been produced using the pedals. The vehicles are made and sold only in the Chinese market.
“We know how many vehicles have been affected and we are now trying to determine if they’re in customer hands or sitting on car lots,” Ford spokesman Said Deep said. “We’re also trying to determine if the pedals, which are similar to those supplied to Toyota, have the same problem.”
Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, on Wednesday said it was stopping producing and selling some of its best-selling models in North America, Europe and China while it gets to the root of the accelerator problem.
Some 2.3 million vehicles were recalled in North America alone because of reports the pedals were sticking, while a further 1.09 million models had to be withdrawn in a second recall because the floormats risked being caught up with the pedal, causing the car to accelerate.
CTS said it doesn’t believe its pedals are responsible for the second set of problems. The supplier said it has been working with Toyota for some time to produce pedals that meet tougher specifications. The new designs have now been tested and are ready for shipping.
Deep said Ford had reviewed its operations globally to check whether any other facilities had been supplied with the parts. The Jiangling venture was the only plant to be affected, he said.
Ford posted 2009 earnings of $2.7 billion, its first full-year profit since 2005. The company is expecting a profit again this year as it claws market share from rivals such as General Motors and amid a slowly recovering U.S. market.
In the fourth quarter, Ford posted a profit of $868 million exceeding analysts’ forecasts.
Ford has confidence in its restructuring plan, but it remains ``a work in progress and is far from complete,'' Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on a conference call.
“The economy remains soft in many areas of the world and the global auto industry continues to wrestle with excess vehicle capacity, volatile commodity prices, and a fragile supply base,'' Mulally said.
Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth told reporters Ford had a lot of work to do on what he called its ``uncompetitive balance sheet.''
Ford ended the year with total automotive debt of $34.3 billion, up from $26.9 billion at the end of the third quarter.
Ford gained U.S. market share in 2009 amid the worst U.S. industry sales market in 27 years and expects its share of the U.S. market to stay flat or increase in 2010.
