Photo: Ford
No stranger to quality issues, the Bronco has been recalled over yet another problem. The chronology of defect begins on March 17th, when the Critical Concern Review Group opened an investigation into reports from the assembly plant of non-functional child safety locks.
The problem affects 2021 to 2022 model year Bronco four-door vehicles. Ford says the condition was identified on March 2nd as part of a quality audit. All vehicles at the plant were quarantined and inspected for this peculiar niggle, with 1.5 percent exhibiting the issue on rear right-hand latches.
Enhanced inspection protocols were – better late than never – implemented at the rear door latch module supplier, which isn’t named in the attached report. Curiously still, the mystery supplier found that the child safety locks were functional prior to installation in the doors. Alas, the plot thickens…
Fast forward to April 2022, and the Critical Concern Review Group discovered that the right-hand rear door latch attachment hole locations on the door sheet metal were out of specification. Why, you might be asking? “Due to a manufacturing tolerance expansion” is how the Dearborn-based automaker explains it. The variation in the hole locations may lead to the deformation of the latch housing and frame plate when attached to the door, thus affecting the proper function of the child safety lock. Functionality was found to be restored with the subsequent installation of a new latch module due to changes in the attachment holes caused by the original latch module.
But wait because it does not end here! Left-hand rear door sheet metal attachment hole locations were also found to be out of specification, but at a level that doesn’t affect child safety lock functionality. The stamping plant corrected this concern, but a review of the sheet metal stamping plant’s records didn’t identify changes or factors that may have caused this issue.
Be that as it may, Ford promises four-door Bronco customers that rear sheet metal door latch attachment holes will be within design specification from here on in. More specifically, since April 11st, as per the attached report.
A grand total of 53,103 examples are called back, of which two percent are believed to exhibit the defect. Starting July 25th, owners of the four-door Bronco will be informed of the problem by mail. Dealers have been told to will inspect and – if necessary – replace the child safety lock and latch.
Enhanced inspection protocols were – better late than never – implemented at the rear door latch module supplier, which isn’t named in the attached report. Curiously still, the mystery supplier found that the child safety locks were functional prior to installation in the doors. Alas, the plot thickens…
Fast forward to April 2022, and the Critical Concern Review Group discovered that the right-hand rear door latch attachment hole locations on the door sheet metal were out of specification. Why, you might be asking? “Due to a manufacturing tolerance expansion” is how the Dearborn-based automaker explains it. The variation in the hole locations may lead to the deformation of the latch housing and frame plate when attached to the door, thus affecting the proper function of the child safety lock. Functionality was found to be restored with the subsequent installation of a new latch module due to changes in the attachment holes caused by the original latch module.
But wait because it does not end here! Left-hand rear door sheet metal attachment hole locations were also found to be out of specification, but at a level that doesn’t affect child safety lock functionality. The stamping plant corrected this concern, but a review of the sheet metal stamping plant’s records didn’t identify changes or factors that may have caused this issue.
Be that as it may, Ford promises four-door Bronco customers that rear sheet metal door latch attachment holes will be within design specification from here on in. More specifically, since April 11st, as per the attached report.
A grand total of 53,103 examples are called back, of which two percent are believed to exhibit the defect. Starting July 25th, owners of the four-door Bronco will be informed of the problem by mail. Dealers have been told to will inspect and – if necessary – replace the child safety lock and latch.
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