Ford, Mitsubishi, Honda, issue recalls

WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- U.S. regulators said Ford Motor Co,, Honda and Mitsubishi have all issued product recalls.

Ford said it would recall 12,500 2013 Explorer, Taurus and Lincoln MKS models due to malfunctioning child safety locks. Mitsubishi said it was calling back about 3,200 2011 Outlander Sports vehicles that are having problems with their sun roofs. And Honda said it had issued a second recall for 686,000 vehicles to fix a dangerous electrical problem.

Ford's child safety locks are a safety feature that keeps the rear doors locked, unless the driver allows them to be. The malfunction allows doors to open even if a child safety lock is engaged, The New York Times reported Saturday.

If the regular door lock is engaged, the doors cannot be opened, Ford said in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Mitsubishi said sunroofs could fly off of their 2011 Outlander vehicles due to the lack of a primer that was not applied during the manufacturing process. The company blamed a temporary worker on the mistake after it found 12 vehicles with the problem, having first heard of a mishap with a sunroof "from a foreign country."

The Honda recall involves 143,000 2007-2008 Fit subcompacts in the United States and 686,000 total, including 2002-2008 Fit vehicles that are called the Jazz in some markets. The recall also involves 2002-2008 City vehicles, which are also not available in the United States.

Honda said its previous fix for a problem with a master electrical switch located in the driver's door was not properly fixed in the first recall in January 2010.

Honda put a case on the switch during the original recall, but now says tape on the case is not holding up. That could allow the original problem to occur, that being moisture on the switch that could cause a short circuit.

Honda said the recall was voluntary, although it was obligated to inform the public of the problem.