WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Ford Motor ( F ) will

pay $365 million to resolve U.S. allegations it violated a

federal tariff law by misclassifying and understating the value

of hundreds of thousands of its Transit Connect vehicles.

The Justice Department said the settlement resolves

allegations that Ford devised a scheme to avoid higher duties by

misclassifying cargo vans imported from Turkey from April 2009

to March 2013.

The government said the settlement is one of the largest

customs penalty settlements in recent history.