WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Ford Motor 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. (Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Chris Reese)