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Does your 2012 have the MyKey? If so, it's possible that the MyKey is set to limit your speed to 115 mph. It's also very possible that this is a manufacturer speed limit based on the tires your Explorer sold with. I won't ask why you feel the need to be able to go faster than 115 mph, but before trying to remove your limiter, do yourself and others on the road a favor and make sure your vehicle is safe to exceed such speeds.
Tire speed ratings generally start at 112 mph which would seem consistent with what you're seeing, so I'm guessing that's what rating of tires your Explorer sold with.
Once you upgrade the tires and brakes to have a vehicle that's safe to exceed 115 mph, then you will probably need to purchase a vehicle tuner for your Explorer and remove the speed limiter through the tuner. Just be aware that the dealers do have ways of determining if your vehicle has been tuned (although not the specific parameters that were tuned) and can use that information to deny warranty claims.
It just good to know that you are able to take the speedometer all the way if needed. The tyres on the car are z rated and very well capable of going at that speed and beyond. But when manufacturers make a speedometer that shows 220kmph and the car stops at 185kmph thats frustrating. The Germans never do that. You get what you see at least that's been my experience with BMW and Audi.
Thank you for your advise on loosing warranty. I just thought there might be a walk around where we dont have to loose the warranty.
I'm pretty sure my wife's former VW (German) Passat with the 1.8L turbo engine would not be able to top out the 160 mph speedo on its own.... I've seen some exotic cars with 240 mph speedos and they won't be able to reach those speeds either.