The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recently launched a preliminary investigation into as many as 310,000 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sables over an issue with the throttles on the vehicles.

Noting that the under-probe models of the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sables were the vehicles of the 2000 to 2003 models years, the NHTSA said in a document posted on its website that it has received nearly 50 complaints about the throttles of the vehicles - equipped with 3-liter V-6 Duratec engines - having the tendency to get stuck.

According to the NHTSA, the problem of stick throttles of the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sables apparently involves the mounting bracket of the throttle control cable. The bracket can seemingly split apart with the passage of time; thereby rubbing hard against the throttle control cable, and potentially causing to stick.

Though the NHTSA said that there have thus far been no reports of a crash or injury due to the sticky cables of the under-probe Ford Taurus and Mercury Sables models, the agency also added that, going by the results of early tests, the throttle-sticking problem occurs in 26 percent of split cables.

Meanwhile, noting that Ford is "aware of NHTSA's preliminary investigation on 2000 to 2003 Taurus and Sable models," the company's spokeswoman Marcey Zweibel said: "We will cooperate fully with the investigation as we conduct our analysis."