Recently, my wife and I noticed an exhaust smell in the cabin of our 2014 Ford Explorer (8K miles) when we accelerated onto highways. We brought the vehicle to Ford and they told us there was a bulletin out on the exhaust issue. The Explorer loaner they gave us had the problem worse than ours, so I asked for something different to drive.

When we got the Explorer back, I still noticed the problem and brought it back to Ford. They insisted that there was no problem so I went to my local fire department and borrowed a carbon monoxide meter and drove the car on the highway for one mile after testing various locations inside the cabin (for about 10 minutes while idling). Over one mile the carbon monoxide level in the cabin increased from 0 to 6 parts per million (PPM).

After discovering the dangerous situation I brought the vehicle back to Ford who has now had the vehicle for right at 3 weeks and will not return my phone calls or update me on the issue. I am posting this so that anyone who reads this can investigate this possible serious health issue for themselves. If you accelerate the vehicle and smell exhaust, take the vehicle into the dealership to have the problem fixed. If you smell exhaust it is still getting into the cabin and is very dangerous to your health.

I am very concerned Ford has not recalled any vehicles (2011-2014) to make sure people are not driving around with dangerous exhaust fumes in the vehicle. I have talked to other Explorer owners around town and at gas stations and they have noticed this as well.

Update from May 26, 2015: I called the dealership today for an update (3 weeks later) and they advised me that a engineer evaluated the vehicle repair and that there was no issue with my vehicle. Upon driving home and accelerating onto the highway the smell presented. I also had a half tank of gas when dropping the vehicle off and the gas light was on when I received the car which explains the 100 miles they put on it over the 3 weeks. Funny enough, they expected me to bring the loaner back with the same amount of fuel they gave me, which I did. At this time Ford is not admitting to any issue and they did not even try to measure the carbon monoxide level which I measured. Quite possibly the worst car buying experience. I will never own another Ford.... for my trouble I might just post a YouTube of the issue for others to see.

I have a brand new Ford Explorer I bought early September this year. After hitting the first 1,000km on the Odometer I accelerate my car reaching between 4K to 5K rpm when I noticed a very bad smell coming from the AC. If I am driving it normally, no hard acceleration (rpm below 3K), there is no burnt odor in the cabin. My car is already @ 7,000 km in my odometer and I still have this issue. I will have my first service on the 8,000 km and will definitely mention it to the mechanic.

I cannot believe that the issue already existed on the 2013 models of the Explorer and yet it is not addressed and fixed in the 2014 models. Is there already a fix for this issue to this date?