EMPLOYEE SEPARATION ACTIONS AND EXIT AND DISPOSAL ACTIVITIES

We record costs associated with voluntary separations at the time of employee acceptance, unless the acceptance requires explicit approval by the Company. We record costs associated with involuntary separation programs when management has approved the plan for separation, the affected employees are identified, and it is unlikely that actions required to complete the separation plan will change significantly. When a plan of separation requires approval by or consultation with the relevant labor organization or government, the costs are recorded after the required approval or consultation process is complete. Costs associated with benefits that are contingent on the employee continuing to provide service are accrued over the required service period.

Automotive Segment

As announced, we are executing a global redesign of our business. Redesign-related activities, including employee separation costs, payments to dealers and suppliers, and other charges, are recorded in Cost of sales and Selling, administrative and other expenses. Below are actions we have initiated as part of the redesign.

South America. On February 15, 2019, Ford Motor Company Brasil Ltda. (“Ford Brazil”), our subsidiary in Brazil, committed to a plan to exit the commercial heavy truck business in South America. As a result, Ford Brazil will cease production at the São Bernardo do Campo plant in Brazil during 2019.

Russia. On March 27, 2019, Ford Sollers Netherlands B.V. (“Ford Sollers”), a joint venture between Ford and Sollers PJSC (“Sollers”) in which Ford has control, announced its plan to restructure its business in Russia to focus exclusively on commercial vehicles and to exit the passenger car segment. As a result of these actions, Ford Sollers will cease production in 2019 at the Naberezhnye Chelny and St. Petersburg vehicle assembly plants and the Elabuga engine plant. As part of these restructuring actions, Ford plans to acquire a 100% ownership of Ford Sollers during the second quarter of 2019, and later in the year sell a 51% controlling interest in the restructured entity to Sollers.

Other Global Redesign Actions. In 2018, we announced our plan to end production at the Ford Aquitane Industries plant in Bordeaux, France, and in March 2019, we announced our plan to phase-out the production of the C-Max at the Saarlouis Body and Assembly Plant in Germany. Furthermore, we are reducing our global workforce and taking other restructuring actions.

The following table summarizes the redesign-related activities, which are recorded in Other liabilities and deferred revenue (in millions):



	March 31, 2019
Beginning balance	$	291
Changes in accruals (a)	267
Payments	(136		)
Foreign currency translation	(8		)
Ending balance	$	414

__________

(a) Excludes pension costs of $13 million.

We also recorded $251 million in accelerated depreciation and other non-cash charges. We estimate that we will incur total charges in 2019 that range between $3 billion and $3.5 billion related to the actions above, primarily attributable to employee separations, accelerated depreciation, and dealer and supplier settlements.