RPT-Ford downplays report it endorses midlevel ethanol

(Refiles, fixes typo in paragraph 8)

NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. (F.N) on Thursday downplayed a report it had endorsed the use of higher blends of alternative motor fuel ethanol in gasoline.

"Saying that we endorse that flat out would be premature," Ford's manager of corporate news Jennifer Moore said in an interview.

A report in Kiplinger's Biofuels Market Alert on Thursday said Susan Cischke, a Ford vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering, had given "the company's blessing to hiking the base level ethanol blend used by all vehicles in the near term to 15 percent or so."

Much of the gasoline sold in the United States now is blended with 10 percent ethanol in a product called E10. The ethanol industry is lobbying the federal government to increase that blend to 15 percent.

The auto industry says it supports higher use of alternative fuels -- particularly more use of E85. or gasoline that contains 85 percent ethanol, which millions of special new "flex fuel" cars can burn.

But Moore said its regular cars that burn E10 are not warranted to burn higher blends of ethanol and that cars that are a few years older may have problems burning the higher blends.

"Mid level blends in our legacy fleet is a challenge that still needs to be addressed," said Moore.

Moore said Cischke, whose comments were cited in the Kiplinger's Biofuels Market Alert, was not immediately available to comment.

Auto engineers say levels higher than 10 percent ethanol can harm fuel lines, spilling small amounts of fuel onto the engine. This could at the least decrease the life of the engine.

Moore said Ford endorses collaborative efforts with key stakeholders to address use of the higher blends in its fleet of non flex-fuel cars. The collaborations between government, car-makers and ethanol producers could include more testing.

Other car companies have said testing could take 18 months to determine whether mid-level blends are safe for regular vehicles.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)