The company said it has a team on the ground in Massachusetts this week following an officer-involved accident
Ford Motor Co. is broadening its investigation into carbon monoxide leaks in police Explorer SUVs after an Auburn, Massachusetts officer lost consciousness and crashed his vehicle.
The Dearborn-based automaker said it has a team there investigating that police department’s fleet of Police Interceptor Utility SUVs following the incident.
“Safety is our top priority and we are concerned for those involved, ” Ford spokesman Brad Carroll said in an emailed statement Thursday. “We are working with the Auburn Police Department and have a team on the ground inspecting the vehicles.”
Officials from the police department could not be immediately reached for comment, but according to Wednesday afternoon posts on the department’s Facebook page, the crash involved two vehicles.
The officer “suffered carbon monoxide exposure while operating his 2017 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor.”
The two officers involved in the crash were hospitalized, and have been released. They were not badly hurt.
A second post said Wednesday that a third officer was admitted to the hospital for high carbon monoxide levels. The department pulled 10 police SUVs from service, and Ford Explorers used by Auburn’s Department of Public Work and the Assistant Fire Chief were also pulled from service “based on high CO levels.”
“We would urge other departments to have their cruisers tested and/or purchase detectors to ensure everyone’s safety, ” the department said on Facebook.
Ford’s Police Interceptor Utility is the nation’s most popular police vehicle, nabbing over 50 percent of market share earlier this year.
The Auburn incident follows Austin, Texas city officials last week removing its 400-vehicle fleet of Explorer police vehicles from use, as over 60 officers were allegedly found with elevated levels of carbon monoxide.
Ford in a July 28 statement said the company found holes and unsealed spaces in the back of some Police Interceptor Utility vehicles that had after-market police equipment installed after leaving Ford factories.
“When a police or fire department routinely install customized emergency lighting, radios and other equipment, they have to drill wiring access holes into the rear of the vehicle, ” the company said in that statement. “If the holes are not properly sealed, it creates an opening where exhaust could enter the cabin.”
The Auburn Police Department had not issued any complaints related to carbon monoxide poisoning in those vehicles prior to the Monday crash.
Ford said it will cover the costs of related repairs in every police utility vehicle that has the problem, regardless of the model year. The company’s investigation into that issue is ongoing.
Meanwhile, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on July 27 said it has an open investigation into 1.3 million Ford Explorers from the 2011 through the 2017 model years following 2,719 reports of exhaust odors in the in the main cabin of those vehicles. Eleven of those reports involve the police interceptor versions of those SUVs.
Ford said that the exhaust odors reported in regular Explorers are unrelated to the carbon monoxide reports.
“If a vehicle has such an odor, customers should bring it to a Ford dealer to address that issue, ” the company said.
Ford has not recalled any of the vehicles.
In a Tuesday call with analysts following the monthly sales report, Ford Vice President of U. S. Marketing, Sales and Service, Mark LaNeve, said “we haven’ t seen any impact on sales. We did want to react to these concerns on behalf of our customers… We haven’ t seen any carbon monoxide issues with regular Explorers.”
He reiterated that the company is paying to repair affected vehicles regardless of modifications made after the vehicles left Ford plants.
The NHTSA said it identified three crashes related to the exhaust odors, and 41 injuries.
Police have reported crashes, physiological injuries from carbon monoxide exposure and a rollover crash with injuries. The alleged injuries “range from unspecified to loss of consciousness, with the majority indicating nausea, headaches, or lightheadedness.”
But NHTSA has found “no substantive data or actual evidence (such as a carboxyhemoglobin measurement) …supporting a claim that any of the alleged injury or crash allegations were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning, the alleged hazard, ” after testing vehicles at its Ohio research center.
It did find that carbon monoxide levels could be elevated in certain driving scenarios, the significance of those levels is under investigation. The interceptor version of the Explorer is experiencing manifold cracks, that “appear to present a low level of detectability, and may explain the exhaust odor, ” the NHTSA reported.
Ford said in a statement it will continue to investigate all reports
