The contact owned a 2021 Ford Bronco Sport. Before starting the vehicle, the contact noticed an unknown fluid leaking near the front driver's side tire and detected a fuel odor inside the vehicle. While driving at an undisclosed speed, another driver alerted the contact that the rear tire was on fire. Unknown messages and warning lights appeared two minutes before the vehicle caught on fire. The contact pulled over and exited the vehicle before the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames and then got into the other driver's vehicle. The Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the fire. A Police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to tow yard and was deemed a total loss by the insurance company. The contact stated that the engine had previously been replaced in 2025 due to smoke under the hood. Two weeks prior to the fire, the dealer performed an oil change, and oil was leaking from the vehicle afterwards. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer two days later and was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to report the failure to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 128,000.

Source: NHTSA complaint ODI #11764651 · view all complaints for this vehicle at nhtsa.gov

On 9/15/26, while actively driving with my child, the monitor screen suddenly turned black and an error message of "Vehicle Network Communication Error", a few seconds later my dashboard turned black, no display messages, speed limit, or manual gauges were working and that too went blank; blinkers did not work when trying to use them. Luckily I was a short distance from where I was traveling to and when we arrived I turned off my car to see if i restart it, it would reset my car. It did not work. My car did not turn on, did not crank- the light on my start button just flashed rapidly. It was not until after my husband later arrived he disconnected the negative battery terminal and let it stay disconnected for 20-30 minutes and it then restarted. Case #CXH-09342591-W5K1G2 was filed with Ford Customer Relations, but they said further information regarding the case would likely not be provided to me as an update.

Source: NHTSA complaint ODI #11764637 · view all complaints for this vehicle at nhtsa.gov

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Bronco Sport. The contact stated that the daughter had reported that while in a parking lot, the brakes unintendedly engaged, and then the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The driver immediately applied the brakes to stop the vehicle. The contact was able to duplicate the failure while attempting to park the vehicle. The messages "Power Train Malfunction" and "Reduced Power" were displayed, the power train warning light illuminated, and the parking brake warning light flashed continuously. The vehicle was being towed to the dealer. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 108,236.

Source: NHTSA complaint ODI #11742661 · view all complaints for this vehicle at nhtsa.gov

There is a load moaning sound when backing the vehicle up or making a turn which significantly effects steering and stoping. Ford dealership said that tires were not rubbing body and tie rods were ok. This ford bronco sport only has 25K miles on it and never taken off road. Ford said to live with the sound until it bothered us? They said that it didn't need brakes but a new brake job could possibly fix problem? Independent repair shop said that it wasn't a brake issue but didn't know what the problem was. This load sound must be a defect for this vehicle because others on the web have expressed the same problem but ford has not put out a recall as of this date.

Source: NHTSA complaint ODI #11686962 · view all complaints for this vehicle at nhtsa.gov

Rear Belt Monitor Fault continues to be an issue. We received this warning light and supposedly had this repaired in October of 2024. The dealership replaced the rear seat belt buckle and reset the codes. This worked for a while but now is happening again. Additionally, we are receiving an airbag warning related to the rear belt monitor. When driving even short distances the warning light appears on screen maybe 5 or 6 times. If a seat belt is disconnected there is no audible warning alert or light to let the driver know that it is not in use. I believe this may be a faulty restraint control module rather than an actual seat belt issue. This is definitely a safety issue regarding restraints and airbags. I've heard of this issue in several Bronco sports, and Mavericks.

Source: NHTSA complaint ODI #11710599 · view all complaints for this vehicle at nhtsa.gov