Do you like your Bronco? How about its rattling molded-in-color hardtop, peeling headliner, snakeskin pattern on the outer layer, warping around the mounting bolts, raw edges, and exterior cavities? Under immense pressure from customers, Ford has taken responsibility for its very own poor design and the substandard build quality attributed to the supplier.
Under customer satisfaction program 21B49, the Blue Oval has instructed every single dealer in the U.S. to “replace all hardtop roof panels and install new rear quarter glass in the rear cap on all the affected vehicles.” The Dearborn-based automaker singles out Broncos that were produced from January 28th to July 21st, and the service kits will become available by the end of the third quarter as per the document at the end of this story.
Current owners of MIC hardtop Broncos will receive a letter indicating the issue prior to the dealer bulletin release, but unscheduled orders will be pushed back to the 2022 model year. Only the First Edition will continue production with the hardtop until the 2021 model year comes to a close.
The company is currently developing new tooling for the revised molded-in-color hardtop, and the tooling will be installed at the Plymouth-based facility operated by Webasto, the hardtop's supplier. 2022 model year production is forecasted to start in December 2021, and the manufacturer also highlights that it has received over 190,000 reservations for the Bronco thus far.
Be that as it may, it remains to be seen how many customers will sit on those reservations until the 2023 model year when the MOD painted modular hardtop is expected to start delivery. It’s also worth mentioning that soft-top roofs have a few problems of their own that FoMoCo has yet to address.
As much criticism as the automaker deserves, Ford is going to pony up a lot of money for this blunder. And thanks to this messy situation, the bean counters are certain to pay attention to quality a little more than before.
Current owners of MIC hardtop Broncos will receive a letter indicating the issue prior to the dealer bulletin release, but unscheduled orders will be pushed back to the 2022 model year. Only the First Edition will continue production with the hardtop until the 2021 model year comes to a close.
The company is currently developing new tooling for the revised molded-in-color hardtop, and the tooling will be installed at the Plymouth-based facility operated by Webasto, the hardtop's supplier. 2022 model year production is forecasted to start in December 2021, and the manufacturer also highlights that it has received over 190,000 reservations for the Bronco thus far.
Be that as it may, it remains to be seen how many customers will sit on those reservations until the 2023 model year when the MOD painted modular hardtop is expected to start delivery. It’s also worth mentioning that soft-top roofs have a few problems of their own that FoMoCo has yet to address.
As much criticism as the automaker deserves, Ford is going to pony up a lot of money for this blunder. And thanks to this messy situation, the bean counters are certain to pay attention to quality a little more than before.