U.S. Regulators Probe Ford’s Taurus, Sable for Throttle Issue

U.S. safety regulators are investigating 310,000 Taurus and Mercury Sable cars built by Ford Motor Co over a problem that could cause the throttle to be stuck open.

The cars were built for the model years 2000 to 2003 and equipped with 3.0-liter V6 Duratec engines, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

The agency received 50 complaints of possible stuck throttles that could have been caused by fractured speed control cable collars. The problem may lead to an engine component getting stuck when the throttle is closing, leaving the throttle 26 percent open.

In a statement on Friday, Ford said it was cooperating with NHTSA.

“We have just begun our investigation and have very limited information at this time,” Ford spokeswoman Marcey Zwiebel said.