Ford recalls SUVs with faulty device that limits top speed

Herald staff

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is recalling 110,633 Ford Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers to fix a device that is supposed to limit the vehicles’ top speed, a problem that was uncovered during tests prompted by the Firestone tire recall.

The action is the latest in a series of recalls by Ford in recent months. Dealers were meeting with top Ford executives Monday to discuss the high number of recalls.

Ford said that model year 1999 and 2000 Explorers and Mountaineers with a 3.27 or 3.55 rear-axle ratio and 15-inch Firestone Wilderness AT tires could reach a top speed above the 112 mph rating of the tires.

A computer chip in the vehicles is supposed to limit their top speed to 106 mph.

T-bill rates fall: The Treasury Department sold three-month bills at a discount rate of 5.90 percent, down from 5.96 percent last week. Six-month bills at a rate of 5.79 percent, down from 5.84 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors, 6.071 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,850.90 and 6.047 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,707.30. The Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, the most popular index for changing adjustable rate mortgages, fell to 5.78 percent last week from 6 percent the previous week.

Monday’s prices: Gold sold for $270.70 a troy ounce, silver sold for $4.67 and platinum sold for $614.10.

Bank deal OKd: The Federal Reserve on Monday approved Chase Manhattan Corp.’s $35.2 billion purchase of investment bank J.P. Morgan, a deal uniting two of Wall Street’s oldest names to create one of the nation’s biggest banking companies.

Talk to us

You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing newstips@heraldnet.com or by calling 425-339-3428.
If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to letters@heraldnet.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
More contact information is here.