UPS says holiday deliveries will easily surpass 2013

United Parcel Service said it expects six days during this holiday season to surpass its single-busiest shipping day last year, a workload sure to put its yearlong preparation to the test as online retail sales rise.

The world’s largest package delivery company forecast Wednesday it will deliver more than 585 million packages in December. That’s up 11 percent from a year ago, when harsh weather and a surge of last-minute online retail orders overwhelmed UPS’s capacity and forced it to miss some Christmas deliveries.

UPS and FedEx Corp. are bracing for a crush of e-commerce orders this year.

The National Retail Federation said 44 percent of the average consumer’s holiday shopping will be done on the Web, the highest since at least 2006. Memphis-based FedEx last week forecast its total shipments during the season would rise 8.8 percent from last year.

NHTSA wants quicker action on replacing faulty air bags

The U.S. government’s auto safety agency, responding to criticism of its slow response to safety issues, told the manufacturer of millions of potentially faulty air bags to make replacement parts faster and do more testing to find the cause of the problem.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent letters Wednesday to Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp. and 10 automakers seeking information in a widening air bag recall that now covers almost 8 million U.S. vehicles.

The vehicles are equipped with Takata air bags that can potentially inflate with too much force, blowing apart metal canisters and sending shards flying at drivers and passengers.

Safety advocates say four people have died due to the problem.

Fiat Chrysler to recall 566,000 trucks and SUVs

Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 566,000 trucks and SUVs in two recalls to fix malfunctioning fuel heaters that can cause fires and a software glitch that can disable the electronic stability control.

The recalls bring the newly merged company’s total for the year to 6.4 million vehicles worldwide and 5.1 million in the U.S. as it continues to struggle with reliability problems. The total is short of Chrysler’s annual record for recalls of 7.7 million set in 2000.

On Tuesday, its longtime quality chief abruptly left after Fiat Chrysler performed poorly in Consumer Reports magazine’s annual reliability rankings.

The largest of two recalls announced Wednesday covers almost 382,000 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups and Ram 4500 and 5500 chassis cabs from 2010 through 2014.

Ford recall of 205,000 SUVs to include vehicles in Maine

Ford is recalling about 205,000 SUVs in cold-weather states, including Maine, and parts of Canada to fix gas tanks that can rust, leak and cause a fire.

The recall affects Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles from the 2007 and 2008 model years.

The company said Wednesday that it traced the problem to rust under some mounting brackets in areas where salt is used to clear snow from the roads.

Ford said that it knows of one fire due to the problem, but no crashes or injuries.

Former Red Sox star part of financial settlement

Ex-Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has reached a tentative agreement to settle financial claims in the 38 Studios bankruptcy case in Delaware.

Court documents show the federal bankruptcy trustee has agreed to settle claims against Schilling and three former 38 Studios officials for $300,000.

The agreement, entered last week, doesn’t affect the ongoing lawsuit filed by Rhode Island’s economic development agency, which also names Schilling.

The agency claims its board was duped into approving a $75 million loan guarantee for Schilling’s video game company.

– From news service reports