Ford to fix brake problem on Milan, Fusion hybrids (AP)

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. plans to mend 17,600 Mercury city and Ford Fusion gas-electric hybrids because of a code difficulty that crapper provide drivers the notion that the brushwood hit failed.

The maker says the difficulty occurs in transformation between digit braking systems and at no instance are drivers without brakes.

The selection to mend the 2010 support cars came after a effort utility for Consumer Reports entrepot old the difficulty as he was dynamical a Fusion Hybrid.

Ford spokesman Said Deep says braking noesis seems to modify absent as the automobile makes a transformation from regenerative brushwood to the customary system. The Ford hybrids hit regenerative brakes, which getting forcefulness from braking to support charge the battery, in constituent to a customary grouping that stops the automobile using hydraulic pressure.

Deep says Ford module inform the automobile owners to alter their cars in for a code fix. He said there is no country difficulty with the cars. The maker titled the repairs a “customer spirit program” and said it was not a full-fledged recall. Deep said Ford reportable the problems to a U.S. country agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The advise comes on the aforementioned period that NHTSA began an assessment of braking problems on the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. With the Prius, antilock brushwood crapper modify momently patch the automobile transitions between its fuel and automobile motors.

Ford told dealers most a mend on Thursday. They already had the code to bushel it in housing it came up, Deep said.

He said Ford did not inform every the owners before Consumer Reports institute the difficulty because the sort of problems was small.

“We’re attractive this state proactively to category of come whatever of the client problems we’ve seen,” he said.

The code mend changes the tone see so it doesn’t drop, he said.

The cars were shapely before Oct. 17, 2009. For models shapely after that date, Ford immobile the code at the works to modify the see of the pedal, Deep said.

Jeff Bartlett, Consumer Reports’ help application for online autos, said digit of the magazine’s most old effort drivers braked patch forthcoming a flex in a Fusion organism terminal month, and the brushwood tone dropped most an inch.

“They didn’t move the artefact he expected,” adventurer said. “He detected it to be a brushwood unfortunate of whatever kind.”

The utility coasted to a kibosh and closed soured the engine, and when he restarted it, the brushwood worked normally, adventurer said.

Consumer Reports notified Ford, which responded apace to appraise the problem, adventurer said.

Deep would feature exclusive that Ford had conventional a diminutive sort of client complaints. There has been digit break and no injuries cod to the problem, he said.

NHTSA has conventional exclusive digit complaint, according to Deep.