Regulators Step Up Probe of Ford Car

Safety regulators stepped up a probe into faulty door latches on 261,000 of Ford Motor Co.’s Focus cars from the 2000 model year, the U.S. government said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said an evaluation of the problem had been escalated to the status of an “engineering analysis,” which often precedes a safety recall.

Focus vehicles from the 2000 model year already have been recalled 13 times.

Also, NHTSA said it opened an engineering analysis of about 110,000 of Toyota Motor Corp.’s 2002-model Tundra pickup trucks after receiving complaints of a faulty ball joint in the front suspension that resulted in a loss of vehicle control or front braking ability.