DETROIT – Ford Motor will recall 3 million older automobiles because of potential points with their airbag inflators, costing the automaker an estimated $610 million.

The corporate confirmed the fee in a submitting Thursday with the Securities and Change Fee after the closing bell. Ford inventory fell into the crimson throughout after-hours buying and selling, down about 2%. The shares ended Thursday up 6.2% at $11.53 a share — the inventory’s highest close since June 2018. Ford’s market cap is greater than $45 billion.

Within the submitting, Ford mentioned the expense shall be handled as a particular merchandise as a part of its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 4. Which means it won’t affect Ford’s adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity and taxes or adjusted earnings per share – carefully watched gadgets by Wall Road.

The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration on Tuesday denied a 2017 petition by Ford searching for to keep away from recalling the automobiles with the doubtless harmful airbags, which have been produced by auto provider Takata.

The impacted automobiles vary from mannequin years 2006 by way of 2012. They embrace Ford Ranger (2007-2011), Fusion (2006-2012), Edge (2007-2010), Lincoln MKZ/Zephyr (2006-2012), MKX (2007-2010), and Mercury Milan (2006-2011) automobiles.

The recall will have an effect on roughly 2.7 million automobiles in U.S. and roughly 300,000 in Canada and different places, the corporate mentioned.

Takata airbag inflators have been an ongoing subject for automakers for years. The defect could cause air bag inflators to rupture, sending probably lethal metallic fragments flying within the car. The issue has been linked to the deaths of not less than 27 individuals worldwide and 18 within the U.S., in line with Reuters. The issue involving the greater than 67 million inflators is the most important automotive recall in U.S. historical past