Ford Hit with Amended Class Action Over Sale of Law Enforcement-Modified Explorers with Alleged Exhaust Leak Defect

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Two New York police officers have filed an amended proposed class action against Ford Motor Company over the automaker’s sale of more than 32,000 allegedly defective Ford Explorer vehicles for law enforcement purposes to state agencies, towns and municipalities nationwide. The trucks, which the 34-page lawsuit says were manufactured between 2011 and 2017, allegedly allow exhaust and other gases, including carbon monoxide, to leak into the vehicles’ passenger compartments, making the cars wholly unsafe to drive.

“Ford has sold or leased approximately 32,000 of these Explorers modified for law enforcement use nationwide since 2011. Each such vehicle was sold or leased in a dangerous and defective condition because each such vehicle contains design flaws, and/or an exhaust and/or HVAC system that permit exhaust and other gases, including carbon monoxide, to enter the passenger compartment during the normal and customary use of such vehicles.”

The suit points out that while Ford has acknowledged a problem with 2011-2017 Explorer models modified for law enforcement, the company, despite issuing numerous technical service bulletins, has done nothing to remedy the problem. Further still, the case claims while Ford supposedly developed a fix for the exhaust leakage problem in 2011 through 2015 law enforcement Explorer models, the defendant provided no notice to the plaintiffs nor proposed class members about the supposed defect.