AUTOS

NTSB Challenges GM on Pickups: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked General Motors Corp. how it can defend its 1973-87 full-size pickup trucks when statistics show they are much more likely than other models to leak gasoline and catch fire after crashes. The federal agency made the request in a letter dated last Thursday and released Tuesday. The letter is part of the agency’s investigation of the trucks and cites crash statistics from Michigan, the only state that keeps track of fuel leaks in its accident records. Agency investigators are deciding whether to order a recall of the estimated 4.7 million of the trucks that are still on the road. The GM full-size trucks leaked fuel at a rate of 80.28 per 10,000 crashes--47% higher than the rate for Ford full-size pickups and 86% above the rate for comparable Chrysler-built pickups. GM’s full-size pickups were also 74% more likely than all other pickups to leak fuel, the Michigan statistics show.