Aug. 1, 2017—The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has expanded an investigation into 1.3 million Ford Explorers over possible carbon monoxide issues.
This announcement came after the police department in Austin, Texas pulled all of the Explorers from their police fleet following several complaints. In the last five months, Austin police officers filed 62 workers’ comp reports for carbon monoxide exposure.
There have been other police departments across the U.S. reporting similar issues. Some officers have filed a lawsuit against Ford and Ford said in a statement that it will cover the costs of specific repairs in every police interceptor utility that may have carbon monoxide concerns.
After thousands of complaints against the Ford Explorer, NHTSA said it wanted to know more about why so many people are reporting exhaust odors and fears of carbon monoxide. NHTSA upgraded its probe from an investigation to an engineering analysis, which is one step away from forcing Ford to a recall.
The probe includes years 2011-2017 Ford Explorers, an estimated 1.3 million of the SUVs.
Ford issued a technical service bulletin back in 2012 for exhaust odors stating if consumers smell the exhaust odors, they should take it to a service shop to get it fixed.
Photo courtesy of Ford.
