AUTOS

Ford Joins Seat Belt Recall: The company agreed to replace or repair Japanese-made front seat belt buckles in about 282,000 Festivas built from 1988 to 1991. In all, 10 auto makers have agreed to recall the belts for nearly 9 million cars sold during those years because of concerns that the orange plastic piece of the belt button can chip off and fall into the buckle, jamming it. The buckle can also fail to latch or unlatch. Ford Motor Co. had not joined the nine other companies that agreed Tuesday to repair or replace the belts, because saying its investigation instead indicated that Ford should be removed from the list of companies with the belts in question. However, after investigating further, Ford officials found that some of their cars are equipped with the belts, a spokeswoman said.