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US car giant Ford says it is recalling about 850,000 cars in North America over a "potential issue" with airbags.

The carmaker said a glitch could cause a short circuit that may mean airbags do not deploy properly in the event of a crash.

The vehicles affected include some 2013-14 C-MAX, Fusion, Escape and Lincoln MKZ models.

Ford said it was not aware of any injuries caused by the problem, adding that dealers would fix it for free.

About 745,000 of the recalled vehicles are in the US, 82,000 are in Canada and 20,000 in Mexico.

Last weekend, rival General Motors recalled more than 220,000 cars over a brake defect, bringing the number of cars it has recalled this year to more than 15 million.