Three problems related to gas recirculation valve (egr valve) have been reported for the 2015 Ford Explorer. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2015 Ford Explorer based on all problems reported for the 2015 Explorer.
The police interceptor utility was being driven with windows down in a parking lot when a foul odor was smelled by the officer, followed by the carbon monoxide alarm activating. The reading on the CO alarm was 127 ppm. The vehicle was taken to hilltop Ford and a repair was made to the egr purge valve. The vehicle was returned to service and within a couple of days the CO alarm activated again, however no smell accompanied the alarm. The vehicle was being driven during the activation. The CO alarm is a honeywell bwc2r-m. The vehicle was taken back to hilltop Ford and after remaining with them for a month, a field service engineer tested the vehicle with specialized equipment and was unable to duplicate the complaint. No repair was made. All prior recall work had been performed on this vehicle.
Exhaust gas fumes come into the inside cabin while driving, mostly from the rear of the vehicle. The air conditioning or heater is on and the recirculation fan can be either on or off. Failure mode can be on flat surface but mostly occurs going up and down hills. Not sure if the decelleration of the vehicle is part of the cause. Problem is intermittent, may not occur for weeks and then might occur 3-4 times in a day one specific example is on November 30, 2015, at 2:30 pm hvac system is set to heat, set to 73 degrees heat in dual temp control is on, recirculation is on, elevation is 3100 feet, going uphill on catron blvd towards highway 16 in rapid city, sd,(outskirts of town), decelerated from 50 to 40 mph at 40mph speed limit sign, several vehicles around us, odometer reading was 5482. 5 miles, and smelled exhaust fumes in the cabin that appeared to come from the rear of the cabin, had to open both front windows for about a minute to get the smell out.
Driving home up a hill with a newly purchased 2015 Ford Explorer my wife and I noticed a bad smell like exhaust fumes; we put this down to the new engine/exhaust burning off any factory grease etc. Subsequent trips with all of my family in the SUV we all experienced a foul exhaust and sulfur smell when going up a hill or accelerating above 3k rpm; there were no other vehicles in front of us to blame for the odor. We have taken the SUV to the dealer 4 times now and they in conjuction with Ford technical support cannot find the root cause. They have replaced/ installed: egr valve cover (tech bulletin), both exhaust down pipes, front transfer case. The dealer has no test equipment to find the problem or confirm we are smelling engine exhaust containing toxic gases including CO.