2021 Ford Bronco Sport Issue(s)

[Glamdring70]

People say the felt is a weight and cost saving feature that results in less rattles and more road noise insulation. I have to think a well fit and well retained plastic wheel well would be better sealed and easier to clean off.

The seal is a major annoyance to me because of all the water and crud that goes into the engine bay. I have tried a number of things to fix the gap including Flextape and a insulation backer rod shoved in from the fender side. Then we got out of the wet season so the backer rod hasn't had a true test, but I still get a lot of crud on top of the felt.... dirt, bugs, pine needles. Hard to guess where it all comes in. This car has a LOT of places that collect and harbor dirt build up like behind the black door trim and under/on all the felt pieces. Eventually that dirt will offset the weight savings

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[Big Kahuna]

And here is the sound that I am referring to. It is at the 3 second mark of the video.

Ours makes this same sound... it has from the start. Never thought anything about it as this thing makes weird sounds all the time. I hear it popping and fizzing all the time when I'm doing things around the carport.

 

[dieu]

I think it’s cheap and you’re absolutely correct in the amount of crap that accumulates. The paper thin liner and gaps is ridiculous. I’ve never taken this off the road and I can’t imagine if I took this off road and had to clean out the mud, etc…

 

[tsilveira]

Ours makes this same sound... it has from the start. Never thought anything about it as this thing makes weird sounds all the time. I hear it popping and fizzing all the time when I'm doing things around the carport.

You know what they say about misery loving company...... I am happy that the sound is not happening solely with mine. When I truly don't want to hear it I remote start the car. Then when I step in the car and push the start button I no longer hear that scratchy sound (3 second mark of the video) that I would hear otherwise when I start it the normal way.

 

[Geelloo90042]

And here is the sound that I am referring to. It is at the 3 second mark of the video.

I have the same sound too on start up. I thought it was normal.

 

[tsilveira]

You also hear (on your vehicle) that scratchy sound that is on my vehicle at the 3 second mark of the video?

 

[69cuda340s]

Mine has gaps between felt liner and front fender as shown in picture above. So most likely they are all like that. So if driving in messy conditions might need to hose off inside that fender to prevent debris build up.

The felt liner on my left rear wheel has a gap in one spot by outer wheel well molding where dirt will go in and get trapped. So I flush that area out with hose periodically.

 

[Jill]

I believe the ripples on the top of the doors is from when the panel was stamped and quality control just waived it through. You are not the first to complain about that issue. One person on this forum tried to have dealer fix the ripples and dealer said they were normal and wouldn't do anything.

Agree. The dimples are from stamping and most, if not all, Sports have them. I had to look for mine. They aren’t very noticeable on my colour.

 

[thor52879]

I’m 8,000 miles into my 2021 BL+BL. This is a very cheaply made vehicle. I got mine fully loaded, the best of everything I could get and it feels like a bottom of the line economy car.

The plastic interior is cheap and rickety. The upgraded sound system sounds worse than my base model 2013 Outback did. Not to mention that even a hint of base rattles the cheap plastic interior making it sound even worse.

The brakes squeal and moan like a banshee when breaking in reverse. Very embarrassing and inexcusable for a brand new car. The engine makes really strange grinding noises and does not sound like any engine I’ve ever heard, and not in a good way. If I close the doors with the windows rolled down it sounds like the glass is bouncing around loose inside the door. Oh, and the paint chipping is absurd. 8,000 miles and it looks worse than a ten year old car (and I baby my vehicles).

The Sync 3 isn’t great and music skips and glitches (tried multiple phones, multiple apps, bluetooth and hardwired). This is 20 year old tech and they screwed it up. As others have stated, the auto highbeam doesn’t work most of the time. Also, I went to a drive in movie (utilizes radio station for audio) and every 30 minutes or so the stereo turns itself off without warning. Really stupid and I’ve read the manual and don’t see a way to prevent this.

Just overall underwhelmed with the purchase. I could have gotten so much more quality for the money I spent.

 

[LastBronco]

First-time poster here. Thought I would combine my observations/issues with the Bronco Sport after 10-months of ownership. Overall, I enjoy the vehicle but there are quality issues that cause one to scratch his/her head. Input is welcome!

• ‘Dimples’ running across door panel window ledges. Do not know how these doors were manufactured or assembled but looks similar to overtightening (see pic).
• Rear liftgate wire harness “beauty plate” pops out every time liftgate is closed (see pic).
• Front left and right wheel well shield's loose. 7mm screws fell out, damaging left side shield. Had to buy a new left-side shield, replacement screws and retighten all remaining screws (see pic).
• 1.5L engine idiosyncratic behavior. In sport mode, during low-speed cruising, engine makes odd whirring, grinding sound. ‘Eco mode’ is sluggish and presents a safety issue when in an intersection or merging into traffic.
• At high-speed highway driving, drivers-side floorboard vibrates under feet, analogous to underbody turbulence.
• Infotainment/screen blacked out/shut down during a long-distance drive, requiring a pullover and vehicle restart.
• Headlights auto feature quirky behavior. Sometimes lights will not shut off automatically, requiring manual cycling through the auto/manual mode. This is a common exercise.
• A minor complaint is the force needed to close the rear liftgate, oftentimes, requiring multiple attempts to clear “rear liftgate open” indicator.
• A minor gripe is that the integrated bottle opener has incorrect dimensions. Angle of bottle opener does not lineup with the angle of the bottle. Almost impossible to use when opening various 8oz bottles. Tailgaters simply used the seatbelt locking latch plate to remove the bottle caps (see pic).

Welcome to the FORD family.

 

[69cuda340s]

I’m 8,000 miles into my 2021 BL+BL. This is a very cheaply made vehicle. I got mine fully loaded, the best of everything I could get and it feels like a bottom of the line economy car.

The plastic interior is cheap and rickety. The upgraded sound system sounds worse than my base model 2013 Outback did. Not to mention that even a hint of base rattles the cheap plastic interior making it sound even worse.

The brakes squeal and moan like a banshee when breaking in reverse. Very embarrassing and inexcusable for a brand new car. The engine makes really strange grinding noises and does not sound like any engine I’ve ever heard, and not in a good way. If I close the doors with the windows rolled down it sounds like the glass is bouncing around loose inside the door. Oh, and the paint chipping is absurd. 8,000 miles and it looks worse than a ten year old car (and I baby my vehicles).

The Sync 3 isn’t great and music skips and glitches (tried multiple phones, multiple apps, bluetooth and hardwired). This is 20 year old tech and they screwed it up. As others have stated, the auto highbeam doesn’t work most of the time. Also, I went to a drive in movie (utilizes radio station for audio) and every 30 minutes or so the stereo turns itself off without warning. Really stupid and I’ve read the manual and don’t see a way to prevent this.

Just overall underwhelmed with the purchase. I could have gotten so much more quality for the money I spent.

I have 5300 miles on my '21 BL BL and so far love mine I think its totally awesome. Sorry to hear of the problems yours has. If I were you I would unload yours while demand is still high and get something else.

 

[John2Names]

After 9 months my BS OBX exhibits none of those issues. Sounds like you got a very rare “lemon”.

 

[BabyBB]

First-time poster here. Thought I would combine my observations/issues with the Bronco Sport after 10-months of ownership. Overall, I enjoy the vehicle but there are quality issues that cause one to scratch his/her head. Input is welcome!

• ‘Dimples’ running across door panel window ledges. Do not know how these doors were manufactured or assembled but looks similar to overtightening (see pic).
• Rear liftgate wire harness “beauty plate” pops out every time liftgate is closed (see pic).
• Front left and right wheel well shield's loose. 7mm screws fell out, damaging left side shield. Had to buy a new left-side shield, replacement screws and retighten all remaining screws (see pic).
• 1.5L engine idiosyncratic behavior. In sport mode, during low-speed cruising, engine makes odd whirring, grinding sound. ‘Eco mode’ is sluggish and presents a safety issue when in an intersection or merging into traffic.
• At high-speed highway driving, drivers-side floorboard vibrates under feet, analogous to underbody turbulence.
• Infotainment/screen blacked out/shut down during a long-distance drive, requiring a pullover and vehicle restart.
• Headlights auto feature quirky behavior. Sometimes lights will not shut off automatically, requiring manual cycling through the auto/manual mode. This is a common exercise.
• A minor complaint is the force needed to close the rear liftgate, oftentimes, requiring multiple attempts to clear “rear liftgate open” indicator.
• A minor gripe is that the integrated bottle opener has incorrect dimensions. Angle of bottle opener does not lineup with the angle of the bottle. Almost impossible to use when opening various 8oz bottles. Tailgaters simply used the seatbelt locking latch plate to remove the bottle caps (see pic).

First-time poster here. Thought I would combine my observations/issues with the Bronco Sport after 10-months of ownership. Overall, I enjoy the vehicle but there are quality issues that cause one to scratch his/her head. Input is welcome!

• ‘Dimples’ running across door panel window ledges. Do not know how these doors were manufactured or assembled but looks similar to overtightening (see pic).
• Rear liftgate wire harness “beauty plate” pops out every time liftgate is closed (see pic).
• Front left and right wheel well shield's loose. 7mm screws fell out, damaging left side shield. Had to buy a new left-side shield, replacement screws and retighten all remaining screws (see pic).
• 1.5L engine idiosyncratic behavior. In sport mode, during low-speed cruising, engine makes odd whirring, grinding sound. ‘Eco mode’ is sluggish and presents a safety issue when in an intersection or merging into traffic.
• At high-speed highway driving, drivers-side floorboard vibrates under feet, analogous to underbody turbulence.
• Infotainment/screen blacked out/shut down during a long-distance drive, requiring a pullover and vehicle restart.
• Headlights auto feature quirky behavior. Sometimes lights will not shut off automatically, requiring manual cycling through the auto/manual mode. This is a common exercise.
• A minor complaint is the force needed to close the rear liftgate, oftentimes, requiring multiple attempts to clear “rear liftgate open” indicator.
• A minor gripe is that the integrated bottle opener has incorrect dimensions. Angle of bottle opener does not lineup with the angle of the bottle. Almost impossible to use when opening various 8oz bottles. Tailgaters simply used the seatbelt locking latch plate to remove the bottle caps (see pic).

We also have the door window panel dimples on our 2022 BS Badlands. We asked our dealer about it and he looked at some other BSs and they also had the window panel dimples. I guess it is a “feature.” We did not pursue.

 

[thor52879]

I have 5300 miles on my '21 BL BL and so far love mine I think its totally awesome. Sorry to hear of the problems yours has. If I were you I would unload yours while demand is still high and get something else.

I’ve been reaching out to dealerships and apparently the Bronco Sport is one of the most traded in vehicles right now. Everyone is unloading them. KBB cash offer is $37,500 right now. I’m looking for a chance to unload. I knew better than to buy a first run but it was an impulse buy.

 

[dieu]

Based on your experiences, I have been doing a bit more inspection/reflection on my customer experience. I took my vehicle to a Ford dealership in New Jersey and had a body shop manager inspect the ‘dimples’ on my door window ledges. He agreed that it is not an inherent characteristic of the door(s). In other words, it is a defect in materials and workmanship. I was a district manager for Toyota and supervisor for 31 district mangers at General Motors and I would never allow these vehicles to go ignored. In fact, I was a quality manager for Ford, managing the production of the Ford Bronco rooftop and we (as everyone knows) had fits trying to produce a quality product. Based on my conversation with the Ford dealership, the challenge is educating the Ford District Manager of these defects. All manufacturing district mangers are directed or supplied talking points on how to manage these complaints. My feeling based on dealing with Ford engineering and the Michigan Assembly Plant (MAP), Ford has a tough time accepting responsibility for poor quality and workmanship compared to Toyota.

I was driving on a road with a slight decline (sport mode), and I could feel the engine buck as it was struggling to find a proper gear. It felt as though I was driving a stick shift and dropped it to first while the engine started to overrev. I felt like I was riding a Bronco! Anyway, this 1.5L engine is an odd character. I originally wanted the full-size Bronco last year but there were none available in Michigan and ONLY two Bronco Sport’s in the metro-Detroit area. Anyway, this is my last Ford product with a 1.5L engine I will buy.

I like the vehicle but there are some things about the construction that are analogous to a snap-together toy. As mentioned before, the paper thin felt and gaps in the wheel-well is a repository for dirt/debris (see enclosure). The doors close as though it is a 20-year-old vehicle. The doors of my wife’s 6-year-old Toyota RAV4 close as though it just left the showroom, solid and quiet. The left rear taillight (enclosed) has some type of while filler that is clearly observable. The cheap plastic foam insulation (enclosed) in the driver’s side door area is simply lodged into place and can easily be removed. Aside from these design cutbacks, I find the behavior of the 1.5L engine disconcerting. The behavior is unpredictable and something I am not comfortable. If it were available as the time, I would have opted for the higher-end model with the 2.0L engine. Live and learn…