By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it is holding discussions with Ford Motor (NYSE:F) after the automaker halted F-150 Lightning production and deliveries following a battery fire.
The U.S. automaker said the suspension of production of its F-150 electric truck will last until at least the end of next week. Ford said one EV truck caught fire on Feb. 4 during a pre-delivery quality inspection in a company holding lot in Dearborn, Michigan, and spread to a nearby truck. The automaker halted production the next day at its assembly plant.
Ford did not immediately comment on the talks with NHTSA.
Ford said Wednesday it believes it has identified the root cause of the fire and expects to conclude an investigation by the end of next week and apply findings to the truck's battery production process, which could take a few weeks.
The automaker said it will continue to hold "already-produced vehicles while we work through engineering and process updates." The automaker said it was "not aware of any incidents of this issue in the field and do not believe F-150 Lightnings already in customers' hands are affected by this issue."
Ford shares were up nearly 1% on Thursday.