Used Ford Bronco Sport SUVs

[Whpony96]

For every experience like yours, there are many more who are happy with the advice they got.

My brother was really upset with CR for years because of some bad advice about AV software. However, to this day he still has a subscription because he realizes the value for himself and his clients (he has a computer business).

No doubt there are many valid complaints about CR. They make mistakes. That said, sometimes issues are blamed on them when the problem is beyond their control. Mfrs put out some percentage of DOA/defective products. The buyers who get them may blame CR when they should be looking at the mfr.

It's typically impossible for CR (or anyone) to test long-term durability. That can be an issue. A product may test well but develop problems later. That can't be avoided.

People often get upset when CR gives their car/truck/whatever a less than excellent rating. That's understandable, but CR is still the best source of objective info out there.

BTW, the Bronco Sport was highly rated and recommended by CR when we bought our '22 BSBL. The decrease in ratings is more recent.

The Ice maker broke 1 week after the factory warranty expired. (1 Year) That part is $499 from Samsung. So I figured that I just got a bum part since CR said it's that BEST refrigerator you can buy. So, I forked that out and completed the replacement my self. It was super easy. Bad part is you must completely empty and defrost the fridge for 48 hours to complete the repair. So I purchased another fridge (Kenmore) off of a neighbor that was moving for $100.00, good deal. I then moved everything from the Samsung to the Kenmore an waited 48 hours, mopped up all the water and replaced the part. Everything worked fine for the next 4 months then the entire back of the fridge panel turned into a solid block of ice. Now I think OK somethings not right, I better call a pro. I called Samsung and they sent out a Tech 3 days later and the second he opened the door he knew exactly what the issue was "Yep more and more of these Samsung fridges are having this issue. It's 4th one this week. I don't have the parts needed but I can order them." I agree 4 days later he returns with the part........it's foam with a plastic cover and a small 72mm fan with one small yellow sensor. "He says too bad we can't just order the sensor, you have to order the entire piece just to get the sensor." That part was $350.00 plus his labor. the fridge worked fine for 5 months and then the 2 hinges that hold the flap that seals the 2 french doors together completely cracked and it just fell right off. Then the Ice maker failed again.....All this happened within one year after the factory warranty expired. Guess what 8 years later that Kenmore 100.00 fridge is still in my garage and hasn't needed a single part........It just works...... And to boot no a single Kenmore fridge was listed in the top 10 of the CR list......

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[Ernest T]

The Ice maker broke 1 week after the factory warranty expired. (1 Year) That part is $499 from Samsung. So I figured that I just got a bum part since CR said it's that BEST refrigerator you can buy. So, I forked that out and completed the replacement my self. It was super easy. Bad part is you must completely empty and defrost the fridge for 48 hours to complete the repair. So I purchased another fridge (Kenmore) off of a neighbor that was moving for $100.00, good deal. I then moved everything from the Samsung to the Kenmore an waited 48 hours, mopped up all the water and replaced the part. Everything worked fine for the next 4 months then the entire back of the fridge panel turned into a solid block of ice. Now I think OK somethings not right, I better call a pro. I called Samsung and they sent out a Tech 3 days later and the second he opened the door he knew exactly what the issue was "Yep more and more of these Samsung fridges are having this issue. It's 4th one this week. I don't have the parts needed but I can order them." I agree 4 days later he returns with the part........it's foam with a plastic cover and a small 72mm fan with one small yellow sensor. "He says too bad we can't just order the sensor, you have to order the entire piece just to get the sensor." That part was $350.00 plus his labor. the fridge worked fine for 5 months and then the 2 hinges that hold the flap that seals the 2 french doors together completely cracked and it just fell right off. Then the Ice maker failed again.....All this happened within one year after the factory warranty expired. Guess what 8 years later that Kenmore 100.00 fridge is still in my garage and hasn't needed a single part........It just works...... And to boot no a single Kenmore fridge was listed in the top 10 of the CR list......

I junked a three year-old LG counter depth French door refrigerator due to reliability issues. None of them run as reliably as the old freon models.
,

 

[sajohnson]

The Ice maker broke 1 week after the factory warranty expired. (1 Year) That part is $499 from Samsung. So I figured that I just got a bum part since CR said it's that BEST refrigerator you can buy. So, I forked that out and completed the replacement my self. It was super easy. Bad part is you must completely empty and defrost the fridge for 48 hours to complete the repair. So I purchased another fridge (Kenmore) off of a neighbor that was moving for $100.00, good deal. I then moved everything from the Samsung to the Kenmore an waited 48 hours, mopped up all the water and replaced the part. Everything worked fine for the next 4 months then the entire back of the fridge panel turned into a solid block of ice. Now I think OK somethings not right, I better call a pro. I called Samsung and they sent out a Tech 3 days later and the second he opened the door he knew exactly what the issue was "Yep more and more of these Samsung fridges are having this issue. It's 4th one this week. I don't have the parts needed but I can order them." I agree 4 days later he returns with the part........it's foam with a plastic cover and a small 72mm fan with one small yellow sensor. "He says too bad we can't just order the sensor, you have to order the entire piece just to get the sensor." That part was $350.00 plus his labor. the fridge worked fine for 5 months and then the 2 hinges that hold the flap that seals the 2 french doors together completely cracked and it just fell right off. Then the Ice maker failed again.....All this happened within one year after the factory warranty expired. Guess what 8 years later that Kenmore 100.00 fridge is still in my garage and hasn't needed a single part........It just works...... And to boot no a single Kenmore fridge was listed in the top 10 of the CR list......

That's one hell of a story, enough to piss anyone off.

There's no excuse for what you went through. That said, since the problem started a year after purchase, it may fall into the category of long term reliability. Not that a year is a long time, it's ridiculous to have a failure then, but that's an example of a problem that anyone testing/reviewing the fridge might not pick up on.

However, it is the kind of issue that should show up in CR's subscriber surveys. Perhaps that model fridge had not been on the market very long?

One possibility is that because CR lists reliability by *mfr* (not models) maybe most of Samsung's fridges are decent? IDK.

Kenmore had/has? a good rep. I've had good luck with their products.

FWIW, CR publishes both "owner satisfaction" and "reliability" ratings for most products it has tested. That info is from subscribers, but with millions of them it is pretty accurate.

I'd be seriously bent out of shape if I had the experience you did. I'm not making excuses for CR. Maybe they dropped the ball, but my guess is that the fault lies with Samsung for making a POS fridge.

 

[Arthonon]

The Ice maker broke 1 week after the factory warranty expired. (1 Year) That part is $499 from Samsung. So I figured that I just got a bum part since CR said it's that BEST refrigerator you can buy. So, I forked that out and completed the replacement my self. It was super easy. Bad part is you must completely empty and defrost the fridge for 48 hours to complete the repair. So I purchased another fridge (Kenmore) off of a neighbor that was moving for $100.00, good deal. I then moved everything from the Samsung to the Kenmore an waited 48 hours, mopped up all the water and replaced the part. Everything worked fine for the next 4 months then the entire back of the fridge panel turned into a solid block of ice. Now I think OK somethings not right, I better call a pro. I called Samsung and they sent out a Tech 3 days later and the second he opened the door he knew exactly what the issue was "Yep more and more of these Samsung fridges are having this issue. It's 4th one this week. I don't have the parts needed but I can order them." I agree 4 days later he returns with the part........it's foam with a plastic cover and a small 72mm fan with one small yellow sensor. "He says too bad we can't just order the sensor, you have to order the entire piece just to get the sensor." That part was $350.00 plus his labor. the fridge worked fine for 5 months and then the 2 hinges that hold the flap that seals the 2 french doors together completely cracked and it just fell right off. Then the Ice maker failed again.....All this happened within one year after the factory warranty expired. Guess what 8 years later that Kenmore 100.00 fridge is still in my garage and hasn't needed a single part........It just works...... And to boot no a single Kenmore fridge was listed in the top 10 of the CR list......

I had a Samsung that did the same thing with the back being solid block of ice. A repair company said they could fix it, but then kept having to reschedule, so I just bought a new fridge, a Whirlpool. I was told that all fridges these days die in 10 years or less, so I just went cheap. 5 years on, so far, so good.

Meanwhile:

 

[DWG]

My Kitchenaid died after 2 1/2 years. Even though we had an extended warranty we bit the bullet and replaced the refrigerator because we knew it would take weeks to fix and we had issues since it was new. I looked at CR's ratings before deciding what to buy and noticed most refrigerator brands had terrible customer satisfaction and reliability scores. At least CR got this right. Looking at Consumer Reports owner satisfaction rating, most refrigerator ratings were very low. Only one brand was even in the green with a high satisfaction rating so we purchased that brand and made the store take it back because it was not working properly from the start. At least in my real world experience in talking to owners of that brand after we sent it back we could not find any one who was happy with the purchase of that brand after their purchase.
Even with the brand the we ended up with there are design flaws that we just have to live with because the repair technicians said it was operating normally.

Refrigerators are one of the most important appliances that we buy and yet it seems to be one of the most unreliable appliances made. And because of cost and space considerations not everyone is able to keep a backup refrigerator for when they have issues affecting the use of the appliance.

 

[wireman]

The Ice maker broke 1 week after the factory warranty expired. (1 Year) That part is $499 from Samsung. So I figured that I just got a bum part since CR said it's that BEST refrigerator you can buy. So, I forked that out and completed the replacement my self. It was super easy. Bad part is you must completely empty and defrost the fridge for 48 hours to complete the repair. So I purchased another fridge (Kenmore) off of a neighbor that was moving for $100.00, good deal. I then moved everything from the Samsung to the Kenmore an waited 48 hours, mopped up all the water and replaced the part. Everything worked fine for the next 4 months then the entire back of the fridge panel turned into a solid block of ice. Now I think OK somethings not right, I better call a pro. I called Samsung and they sent out a Tech 3 days later and the second he opened the door he knew exactly what the issue was "Yep more and more of these Samsung fridges are having this issue. It's 4th one this week. I don't have the parts needed but I can order them." I agree 4 days later he returns with the part........it's foam with a plastic cover and a small 72mm fan with one small yellow sensor. "He says too bad we can't just order the sensor, you have to order the entire piece just to get the sensor." That part was $350.00 plus his labor. the fridge worked fine for 5 months and then the 2 hinges that hold the flap that seals the 2 french doors together completely cracked and it just fell right off. Then the Ice maker failed again.....All this happened within one year after the factory warranty expired. Guess what 8 years later that Kenmore 100.00 fridge is still in my garage and hasn't needed a single part........It just works...... And to boot no a single Kenmore fridge was listed in the top 10 of the CR list......

I had ice maker issues on a P.O.S. Samsung Ref. A known problem with Samsung.

Repairman says Samsung should stick to making TV's and phones. All their other appliances suck.

He also said to avoid any Ref. with the icemaker in the Ref. side.

As per C.R., just a fish wrap IMO.

 

[tommy]

Used Ford Bronco Sport SUVs Should Be Avoided: Consumer Reports

https://fordauthority.com/2025/12/used-ford-bronco-sport-suvs-should-be-avoided-consumer-reports/

Consumer Reports was busted years ago backing inferior products for $, take them with a grain of salt.

 

[tommy]

I missed that, do you have a link to that story

No I don't sorry, try Google.

 

[topspin34]

Used Ford Bronco Sport SUVs Should Be Avoided: Consumer Reports

https://fordauthority.com/2025/12/used-ford-bronco-sport-suvs-should-be-avoided-consumer-reports/

One does not need Consumer Report to tell us what we already know. A quick glance at the Bronco related forums will tell you everything you need to know. It's common knowledge that the BS has issues.

 

[Glamdring70]

I don't think you're going to find an actual piece of investigative journalism that demonstrates where CR gets paid by the review. But you also have to have a realistic thought about how CR operates and they have a pretty bad model for that.

They buy a product. They try the product. Maybe it's good, maybe it's bad. I once bought a Hamilton Beach coffee maker. It lasted like 6 months. Then I replaced it with the exact same one. (I liked it) That was 7 years ago, basically daily use. It's been fine. I have the spare carafe in a cabinet somewhere *knock* just in case... So we know that one bad apple spoils the bunch. But it also spoils the overall accuracy of their reviews.

Once they do get a review put together, it gets published. If it's a favorable review (heck, I guess even if it's a bad one) the OEM can *pay* CR to use the review. So it is fair to say they could be incentivized to create a better review. Corporateworld is once again way ahead of the consumer, and Consumer Reports too. Got a bad review? Make a new model. Change the S80DWSS appliance to a S88DWSS and keep on chugging. This can make it difficult to apply the review to real world shopping. This point probably doesn't apply much to cars though.

What is the overall weight of known issues? Do injector fires weigh more than the brake moan? Which one is an actual bigger issue? (fire) Which one is most complained about? (brakes). Heck, can anyone point me to even one post here by an owner that caught fire? You can bet real money that whalebrakes and windshields factor in to the ratings. For real though, what is it with Bronco owners and a penchant to complain about catching a rock? The Faceplace groups are full of them. We're driving a brick with doors and loose rocks are a feature of most modern US roads now. I've caught some too, but my window deflected them. It's luck. We don't have inferior glass despite the number of people making that claim.

CR is sorta kina also a review aggregator. So they look at other reviews, other anecdotal things posted online and then go with that. Now keep in mind the average person is smarter than half or so of the folks out there. Heck, I just saw a post on the Forum's FB group by someone that just discovered how to start a Bronco Sport with a dead keyfob. So they didn't RTFM, not even the section about emergencies! Most of the complaints and bad reviews I see on e.g. Big Rainforest's listings, are by people that clearly had no clue how to install/operate/maintain something they bought. So when Sally Sourface says something silly about her blender or car or thermostat, CR takes that into account. Especially to create those wild "expected performance" reviews. If you're lucky enough, the CR guy that creates the writeup will at least be on the ball enough to recognize the various trim levels available and how they stand in Ford's published tiers. But maybe the aggregator will find some fevered claim, like that the OB is the top of the line... and that data poisons the well for the eventual write up. As AI takes over more and more of those mundane aggregation duties, I expect that data collection to get even worse.

They have absolutely been sued for using extreme or inflammatory verbiage in the reviews. So it's just an opinion being stated and often fails to explain to the reader what the scale at stake is. Example, I bet you could look at their review and a Bronco or Wrangler vehicle will get nailed for "noise". OK, what does that mean? Is there a quiet car in the category? Probably not. It's an easy complaint to make like when those Utube car dudes go "I hate all the plastic". Dude, every car is all plastic. What exactly is your gripe!? Does having a soft top factor in at all or is the car's wind noise being compared to a Corolla or Altima? What's the baseline for road noise in hard Db numbers to get a quiet or noisy rating? Do all the cars get driven the same distance, same time of year, on the same roads? Uh, no. Is this data even meaningful to the interested buyer? It seems like a huge waste of time to me. Test drive it yourself!

So I think their overall *opinion* (and it is just that) is about as valuable as any other user's honest review. Sometimes not as thorough as someone that has used an item longer then they have- like my coffee pot or my 25 year old clothes appliances. The main thing is that you have to pay for their opinion, right? Here's a deal: Your local library might be able to give you access to CR. If you need one more free opinion to shop with.

 

[jkernitzki]

@Glamdring70, exceptionally well-stated.

 

[sajohnson]

I had ice maker issues on a P.O.S. Samsung Ref. A known problem with Samsung.

Repairman says Samsung should stick to making TV's and phones. All their other appliances suck.

He also said to avoid any Ref. with the icemaker in the Ref. side.

As per C.R., just a fish wrap IMO.

Well, CR agrees with your repairman -- icemakers are trouble prone. CR has been warning readers of that for decades. That's why we've never purchased a fridge with an icemaker. Making ice 'ye olde fashioned' way is not exactly difficult -- and the ice cubes are much better.

I've been a CR subscriber for ~40 years. I've had problems with them, for example:

* After years of dire warnings about Facebook -- which were accurate -- and telling readers not to get a FB account, they began using FB! Now subscribers cannot comment on certain articles without having a FB account! I canceled my hard copy subscription (which I had kept just to help them out) over that.

* Their customer service sucks, at least in my experience. Responses (if any) are canned and unhelpful. To be fair, years ago I was put in touch with an engineer that was involved in their tire testing. They had just begun treadwear ratings, but they were using their somewhat vague 1>5 scale, no miles listed. He explained that CR was concerned that readers would hold them to a fixed amount, like 50,000 miles, so they used the 5 color-coded categories instead. Now they give actual miles.

We have had great luck with everything we've purchased based on CR recommendations. Our last fridge was almost 30 years old (and still working) when we replaced it. We have 2 Kenmore upright vacuums, a 2 ton thru-wall Whirlpool A/C unit, and a front load LG washer that are decades old. I could go on and on.

Of course, my experience is just anecdotal, just as the negative experiences mentioned above are. All I can say is:

* CR has been around for ninety (90) years. They have millions of subscribers. If they were routinely recommending lame products they would have been gone years ago.

* As I mentioned above, no one can assess long-term reliability and publish timely ratings. Mfrs change models very quickly in many cases. That means a product may test well and be recommended, but break down after a year or two. That's the fault of the short-sighted, greedy mfr -- not CR.

Their subscriber ratings for 'satisfaction' and 'reliability' can be helpful, they're definitely better than nothing.

It would be much more helpful if subscriber ratings were given for individual products. They do list categories of products:

Those ratings are subjective but come from hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

 

[sajohnson]

Usually stuff like that is fake news but I’ll look

Especially with no source given.

 

[Arthonon]

I don't really have a dog in this hunt, so I don't really care about CR, as I use so many resources when researching something that I think I am usually able to get things boiled down to facts after a while.

But out of curiosity, I did some searching and found multiple people pointing out that they bought products recommended by CR and had a lot of issues with them, although it could just be that they got a defective copy.

I also found the article below, which implies that there's no way to get the data behind their test results and conclusions. That's a review site as well, so it probably boils down to who you decide to trust. I did not find anything about a scandal where they were taking money from anyone.

3 Year Investigation Reveals that 75% of Consumer Reports’ Reviews in 24 categories are Potentially Fake - Gadget Review

That article focuses on electronics and appliances, and I may have missed it but I didn't see any rating for their auto reviews.

 

[Stircrazy]

The BS BL—even before the Sasquatch package—had proven itself to be far more capable than anyone expected. Look at any serious, unbiased off-road journalist and you’ll get a grudging respect at least, and a surprising admiration more often as not.

For a brief example, here’s a 2021 Badlands at Hell’s Gate which has embarrassed many a modded Jeep:

I wouldnt hesitate to do that,its just a matter of having the right width and a good spotter, now take that and makeit out of small rocks dirt and roots, throw some running water down it with trees and boulders all over the place and thats what we used to do just to get to the good playing spots. what we used to do I wouldnt even dreem of taking my BS on.

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