Ford faces lawsuit alleging carbon monoxide leak in police Explorers

The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

Jason Levine, executive director of the center, told Automotive News that Ford’s response to complaints was “insulting to consumers.” Ford has “continued to insist that it’s not an issue and that the problems happening with the Interceptors were solely about after-market adjustments,” Levine said. “The Explorer and Interceptor are essentially the same vehicle, and no one’s putting after-market police gear on their Explorer and yet they’re having the exact same problem.”

 

Washington state troopers filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status last week alleging Ford Police Interceptor Utilities based on the Ford Explorer design exposed officers to noxious gases, causing sickness and physiological injury.

The suit, filed Aug. 7 in Superior Court of Washington’s Clark County, blames a defective exhaust, ventilation and heating or air conditioning system in 2014-17 Explorers allowing exhaust odor and gases including carbon monoxide “to enter the passenger compartment of vehicles while in use.”

The six plaintiffs claimed they suffered headaches, nausea, foggy thinking or flu-like symptoms from driving the vehicles and one “suffered permanent neurological damage which has prevented him from continuing his job as a Washington state patrol trooper.”

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