Ford recalls almost 340,000 F-150s in Canada for seatbelt fire risk

Ford is recalling twomillion F-150 pickup trucks from the last three model years to fix a problem with the front seatbelt pretensioners.

The company says it is aware of 17 reports of smoke or fire in the United States and six in Canada stemming from pretensionersin the front driver and passenger seats. The belt's pretensioneris what pulls in the seatbelt and makes ittight when the vehicle detects a possible collision, to strap in passengersas best as possible.

After learning ofreports of faulty pretensioners, the company launched aninvestigation and found that some front ones can generate excessive sparks when they deploy. Those sparks can then ignitegases inside the vehicle's frame, which can burn components such as the car's insulation and carpet.

The total recall involves1,995,776 vehicles in North America, with 1,619,112in the United States, 339,884 in Canada and 36,780 in Mexico.

Affected vehicles include:

• 2015-18 Ford F-150 vehicles built at Dearborn Assembly Plant, March 12, 2014 through Aug. 23, 2018.
• 2015-18 Ford F-150 vehicles built at Kansas City Assembly Plant, Aug. 20, 2014 through Aug. 23, 2018.

Customers who think their vehicles are affected are instructed to contact their dealer. The recall is number is 18S27.

All repairs will be provided at no cost to customers,Ford says