Yahoo Autos NHTSA Says You Must Have Been Imagining That Exhaust Smell in Your Ford Explorer
It took the government six years to determine that the Ford Explorer doesn’t have an exhaust problem, Ford’s EV tie-up with Volkswagen will result in hundreds of job cuts in Europe, and General Motors and LG don’t seem to be getting along. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, January 23, 2023.
1st Gear: Consider the Issue... Explored
Way back in 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a probe into model years 2011 through 2017 of the Ford Explorer — totaling about 1.5 million vehicles — after the department received some 6,500 complaints of exhaust odors leaking into the cabin. That investigation also covered the Explorer-based Police Interceptors used by law enforcement. Six years on, the safety agency has decided to close the book on the matter on Monday, citing no evidence of a defect. Courtesy Reuters:
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NHTSA said its investigation found “that the 2011-2017 Ford Explorer vehicles when accurately measured produce occupant compartment (carbon monoxide) levels which fall below current accepted health standards.”
The investigation did find issues with dealers, government fleets and others modifying the Police Interceptor vehicles. So-called “upfitting” — adding sirens, lights, cages, auxiliary power — is typically performed by governmental fleet operations, independent repair facilities, or local dealers.
“Sealing issues caused by upfitting were responsible for the highest measured carbon monoxide levels in tested vehicles,” NHTSA said while adding the highest levels in consumer vehicles were usually traced to sealing issues caused by rear crash damage.
The issues around upfitting are key, because holes were drilled into the SUV’s underbody as part of the conversion process, and Ford decided to foot the bill for those repairs. The automaker also flashed revised heating and cooling software onto consumer and fleet vehicles as part of a recall campaign in 2017 to lessen the possibility of exhaust leakage. Despite these measures, the NHTSA hasn’t been able to find evidence that the SUVs ever posed a safety risk to begin with.
When the investigation began, three crashes were thought to be potentially linked to carbon monoxide poisoning within the cabin. The Austin, Texas police department pulled all 40 of its Interceptors from duty a short while later, in 2017. Congratulations Ford — you finally dodged one.
2nd Gear: Meanwhile, in Europe
Ford is changing some things, particularly at its Cologne, Germany plant. That facility used to be the home of the Fiesta, but with the Blue Oval shedding its most iconic European nameplates, the plant will now produce two battery-electric models developed with Volkswagen’s MEB architecture. We already knew this; what we didn’t know was that at least 1,000 employees would lose their jobs in the process. From Automotive News:
The automaker plans to reduce the workforce at its European headquarters and factory in Cologne, Germany, by a four-digit number, sources told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.
The job losses will be across the board in assembly, engine and transmission manufacturing, and also in development, administration and sales, the sources said.
The company is creating a new business structure for its European operations, the sources said.
As the article explains, because Ford is leaning on Volkswagen tech for these cars, it supposedly needs fewer engineers of its own at the site. It might seem counterintuitive to you and I, the prospect of scaling back personnel while launching perhaps the most important products in a company’s recent history. But hey, that’s what it means to run a major corporation in 2023.
3rd Gear: IPO Everything
That seems to be Volkswagen’s modus operandi these days, as the German automaker is considering listing its energy and charging division on global markets the same way it spun off Porsche. Before it does, though, it’ll prepare a mock listing as a training exercise, per Reuters, in an initiative dubbed “virtual equity stories.” I wish I were kidding about that last part.
As the article explains, the impetus for this is the inevitable crossover between EVs and the electrical grid, and all of the money that will make certain people. Volkswagen wants in:
[Elke] Temme, a former RWE executive who has led the carmaker’s energy business, said electric cars could help stabilise the large price swings in the electricity market by acting as temporary storage for the overcapacity of green electricity on the grid - known as bi-directional charging.
But regulators needed to first create a framework to make this economically viable. “It won’t take five more years,” Temme predicted, adding that Volkswagen’s electric vehicles on the MEB platform were equipped for the feature.
Temme, in the job since January 2021, has been tasked with bundling the carmaker’s various power activities such as procuring energy, enabling customers to charge their cars at home and on the road and selling the electricity required.
After all this is said and done, you have to wonder if there will be a single division of Volkswagen that doesn’t have its own code on the stock ticker.
