Ford Recalls Windstars from Virginia - Analyst Blog
May 11 2012 - 12:20PM
Zacks
Ford Motor Co. (F) will recall 27,000 units of
Windstar minivans from Virginia, which is a part of the company’s
larger recall of more than 600,000 minivans in the U.S. and Canada
in 23 states on August 2010. The Windstars are either sold or
registered in Virginia.
The vehicles belong to the model year 1998 through 2003 and were
manufactured at Ford's Oakville, Ontario plant from September 1,
1997 through July 3, 2003. The defect was caused by salt that can
cause the axles to rust, crack and even break, leading to loss of
vehicle control.
Ford has decided to recall the additional Windstars after
receiving 11 reports of axle cracks from Virginia between October
2011 and March 2012. However, the Detroit automaker has not yet
received any reports of crashes or injuries in Virginia due to the
problem.
Ford will either replace the axles or install brackets to fix
them. The company will start sending letters to the vehicle owners
in Virginia starting the week of June 18.
According to Ford representative Daniel Pierce, about 60% of the
vans in the 2010 recall have been brought in for repairs.
Meanwhile, some vans have been scrapped and others were not
repaired. He also added that the company received reports of 8
crashes and 3 injuries related to the original recall.
Automotive safety recalls were brought into focus by media after
Toyota Motors’ (TM) announcement of the
largest-ever global recall of 3.8 million vehicles in September
2009, triggered by a high-speed crash that killed 4 members of a
family.
Later on, a string of recalls has led Toyota to face numerous
personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits in federal courts. The
Transportation Department of U.S. also imposed a fine of $48.4
million on the company due to late recall of millions of defective
vehicles.
Ford, a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) stock, posted a sharp 20% fall in
profits to $1.6 billion in the first quarter of the year from $2.0
billion in the same quarter of 2011. On per share basis, profits
ebbed 17% to 39 cents from 47 cents in the first quarter of 2011.
Nevertheless, it was higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 35
cents.
The automaker has attributed the decrease in profits to higher
tax expense, lower operating results and higher charges emanating
from buyouts of hourly workers in the U.S. as part of its UAW
agreement in 2011.
The company’s profits drastically fell in all its operating
regions, except North America. In fact, it recorded a loss in
Europe and Asia Pacific Africa compared with a profit in the
comparable quarter of 2011.
Total revenue in the quarter slipped 2% to $32.4 billion, barely
surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $32.0 billion. The fall
in revenues was attributable to lower wholesale volumes in Europe
and Asia, partially offset by higher volumes in North America and
South America.
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