A couple in Maryland says that Ford has offered to buy back their 2016 Explorer after company engineers detected carbon monoxide during a drive—though without recording a paper trail, according to News4. After apparently fixing the problem, Ford then offered to buy the SUV back.
The carbon monoxide problem isn’t new, of course: In July the feds said they were expanding their investigation of hundreds of thousands of Explorers over possible carbon monoxide exposure. And earlier that month, the Austin Police Department said they were taking dozens of Explorers out of service after one officer said he was “lucky to be alive” after driving one.
The Maryland case, which came after an investigation by News4, involves a newer Explorer owned by Mark and Valentina Shedrick, who, even after the Ford engineers said they’d fixed the problem, refuse to drive the car because, they say, they can’t trust it. They now might sell it back to Ford.
From News4:
Ford said their engineers took it out for an “in-vehicle drive evaluation” and tested for carbon monoxide. The Shedricks said the engineers detected carbon monoxide but refused to put the results in writing.
“What is it going to take to make a black and white copy with the elevated levels carbon monoxide?” Valentina Shedrick asked.
When News4 asked Ford why the engineers wouldn’t document the carbon monoxide levels, we were told, “The Ford engineers who investigated the customer’s vehicle did not generate a written report. They provided the information from our investigation directly to the customer, verbally.”
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Ford serviced the Shedricks’ vehicle and took it out for another test drive and found “consistent carbon monoxide readings near zero,” which they did document.
On Tuesday, the Shedricks told News4, Ford offered to buy back the SUV.
There have been over 2,700 complaints over elevated carbon monoxide levels in Explorers in model years 2011 to 2017, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says they are investigating. In the Shedricks’ case, it seems, a little publicity helped.