The battery in our 2021 Big Bend Bronco Sport exploded yesterday. Looks like it was a lead acid instead of an AGM. It was the original factory battery. 28k miles on the vehicle. A couple of weeks ago while stopped at a light the vehicle died when it tried to restart from the auto start-stop, other than that it's been fine. When it exploded it had been parked for almost 2 hours. Pressed the ignition and it started to turn over and then BLAM!. It honestly sounded like a shotgun and the vehicle went dark.
I opened the hood to find battery acid everywhere and a really awful smell
We got the battery removed as quickly as possible and cleaned everything with baking soda and water. Installed a new AGM battery from O'Reilly's (almost $300) and the Bronco starts right up but after running there is a battery light and "Charging System Service Now" error.
I read some of the posts here about the battery management system (BMS) so I do the accessory mode, 5 high beam + 3 brake contra code thing and it clears the error and light. But only for 5 mins at most. Vehicle seems to drive fine. Reset the BMS several times and the error always comes back. So I went to the dealership today, originally I was just going to eat the cost of the battery to avoid the hassle.
Dealership won't warranty without the exploded battery which I didn't want to transport due to the fumes and it continuing to leak acid everywhere. I had to go buy a plastic tub with a lid to transport it in.
Finally get it to them and they are able to pull the needed numbers off of it. A little while later they call me and let me know the OEM battery isn't it stock. Anywhere! It's on back order with no ETA. I'm guessing a lot of warranty battery replacements are happening or there is a supply chain issue.
So we keep the O'Reilly AGM battery in the Bronco and they troubleshoot the "Charging System Service Now" error. After a complete reset everything is fine. No wiring or electrical component issues except for the original battery.
I opened the hood to find battery acid everywhere and a really awful smell
We got the battery removed as quickly as possible and cleaned everything with baking soda and water. Installed a new AGM battery from O'Reilly's (almost $300) and the Bronco starts right up but after running there is a battery light and "Charging System Service Now" error.
I read some of the posts here about the battery management system (BMS) so I do the accessory mode, 5 high beam + 3 brake contra code thing and it clears the error and light. But only for 5 mins at most. Vehicle seems to drive fine. Reset the BMS several times and the error always comes back. So I went to the dealership today, originally I was just going to eat the cost of the battery to avoid the hassle.
Dealership won't warranty without the exploded battery which I didn't want to transport due to the fumes and it continuing to leak acid everywhere. I had to go buy a plastic tub with a lid to transport it in.
Finally get it to them and they are able to pull the needed numbers off of it. A little while later they call me and let me know the OEM battery isn't it stock. Anywhere! It's on back order with no ETA. I'm guessing a lot of warranty battery replacements are happening or there is a supply chain issue.
So we keep the O'Reilly AGM battery in the Bronco and they troubleshoot the "Charging System Service Now" error. After a complete reset everything is fine. No wiring or electrical component issues except for the original battery.
