The eagerly awaited 2011 Ford Fiesta subcompact has had more than its share of challenges, but Ford wants you to know it has resumed shipping the little sedan and hatchback models. New ones should be showing up at your dealer within days.

The latest issue was a problem in an unidentified part that caused Ford to issue a stop-shipment order until it could determine whether potentially faulty parts had been fitted to vehicles. The problem was fixed and shipments have now resumed.

Sources from inside Ford told Automotive News that the part was a seat lever, although that could not be confirmed.

Before that, tropical storms Alex and Bonnie across the southern U.S. and Mexico damaged the critical north-south rail line that brings Fiestas to the U.S. from the plant in Cuautitlan, outside Mexico City, where they're built.

Delays of up to two weeks resulted last month as trains had to take a longer and more circuitous route on their trip north to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. That damage has now largely been fixed.

Yesterday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded the 2011 Ford Fiesta its Top Safety Pick designation, making the Fiesta the first subcompact to receive the award since new, tougher roof-crush standards were added to the testing.

And, ummm, that plague of locusts? We made that part up.

[Automotive News (subscription required)]