Recall of 1.3M Ford vehicles came only after complaints, federal inquiry.

Forbes (10/29, Cheryl, Jensen, 9.79M) reports that “Ford decided to recall about 1.3 million vehicles in the United States with a stalling problem only after being contacted by federal regulators, according to a report posted on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.” The automaker “said officials from the safety agency contacted them in May about complaints from owners of its Focus models” and “after a series of discussions with the regulators Ford said it decided earlier this month that a recall was necessary.” Forbes says “the agency has at least 100 complaints from owners about stalling or driveability issues with the models being recalled.” Forbes also reports that “while the safety agency contacted Ford about the complaints it never posted an official note of its concern on its website” and that “typically such inquiries are made public as ‘preliminary evaluations.’”