10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 8
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
105,800 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

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problem #10

Mar 052009

Bronco

  • 203,000 miles
The contact owns 1996 Ford Bronco. The contact stated that when the cruise control switch was engaged, the vehicle begin to accelerate beyond its set speed. The contact was driving 55 mph. The contact did not call the manufacturer. The dealer informed the contact that the cruise control switch needed to be replaced. The contact replaced the cruise control with a used cruise control switch and that has remedied the failure. The contact stated that the faulty cruise control could have caused a crash. The failure mileage was 203,000.

- Kansas City, MO, USA

problem #9

Jun 162005

Bronco 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 224,000 miles
Driven 96 Bronco to store, noticed "squishy brakes on way home. Parked vehicle for approx. 20-30 min. When came outside to find flame balls of dripping plastic; opened the hood to find master cylinder on fire & spreading to areas below. Unable to quickly access fire extinguisher; pulled a garden hose back to vehicle & at this time all areas beneath master cylinder were involved and spreading over to tires, wiring harness & insulation dripping onto fuel lines. Reported to Ford Motor Co. Immediately and not getting anywhere with them to accept liability for the damage. Continually receiving recall notices from Ford as to why this repair has not been done... "?" please help!!

- Suffolk, VA, USA

problem #8

Aug 222005

Bronco 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 140,000 miles
The Ford Bronco was sitting in front of my car. Overnight the car caught fire and burned the front console of the car and below the dashboard. The hottest point of the fire was underneath the hood where the metal turned white and destroyed the paint. A claim filed with Ford was filed after the recall for the cruise control switch was issued a few weeks after the fire. Ford denied the claim because they could not locate the switch, which, accordingly to the local Ford dealership, was not in the engine block.

- Winston-Salem, NC, USA

problem #7

Jun 012005

Bronco 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
The contact owned a 1996 Ford Bronco. The vehicle caught on fire in early June 2005. The fire occurred in the wire cluster that connected into the front of the master cylinder. The fire was first noticed coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was not operating unusualky before the fire started. Contact only had the vehicle for a couple of months and the cruise control did not work. Heard about the cruise control recall but did not pay attention to it. This was an electrical fire. The vehicle was repaired by bypassing the cruise control and wiring it. Insurance company paid for the repairs.

- Greensboro, NC, USA

problem #6

Jun 052005

Bronco 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 120,000 miles
Consumer stated that 1996 Ford Bronco XL caught on fire and burnt on June 5, 2005. The fire started under the drivers side left front fender well right at the master cylinder. The vehicle had been parked for about 20 minutes. The vehicle had driven just fine before this. Consumer has not contacted the manufacturer at this point. There was a fire department and police deportment reports. There was no insurance report. Driver had not smelled any smoke or seen any smoke from the vehicle. The vehicle was totaled. There are pictures of the vehicle before it was moved by the consumer. The owner going to take more pictures of the vehicle for ODI.

- Villa Rica, GA, USA

problem #5

Jan 152005

Bronco 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
Fire in engine compartment caused by cruise control brake switch. My first indication of a problem was that my cruise control did not work. I went to my garage and found that a fuse had blown. When I replaced the fuse, the switch assembly, located directly above the brake fluid tank, immediately ignighted, which destroyed the switch and melted part of the brake fluid. We put out the fire with an extinguisher, bought and installed a replacement switch, and it now seems to be working ok. I had figured it was an isolated incident, until I learned it has happened to hundreds of other people and that a "partial" recall has been conducted by Ford, but the recall did not include my vehicle. Now I'm afraid I may have another fire. I became aware of this by watching a cnn news story on the problem.

- Wautoma, WI, USA

problem #4

Mar 042005

Bronco 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 84,000 miles
While cleaning my 96 Bronco I noticed smoke coming out of the left side of the hood. After opening it, I saw the cruise control box to be smoking heavily. I poured water on it and cooled down the superheated device. Except for the cruise control not working, I did not encounter any other problems. Lately I've been reading about investigations into potential systematic defects of the cruise control of Ford trucks and extensive recalls due to that problem. The symptoms described are matching what happened to my car - I seem to just have been lucky to be present. I reported the incident to my car dealer and to Ford but both denied a claim because there was no recall on my kind of vehicle. There have been recalls on Ford F150 trucks but I could not find any regarding the Bronco model which is surprising since both cars are essentially the same except for the flat bed.

- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

problem #3

Jun 012004

Bronco 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 115,000 miles
Cruise control and brake lights quit working. Replaced fuse and it blew and still no brake lights or cruise. The problem is the brake pressure switch that controls the cruise goes bad and causes fuse to blow and cruise does not work and brake lights will not work. After finding the problem I replaced the switch with a new one from moses Ford. Within two weeks fuse blown again and switch was bad again. When switch goes bad it allows brake fluid through switch and onto the wiring leaching up harness and to a larger harness and the fluid caused a short which melted harness. I fortunately saw it had melted and have left harness unplugged since. Now because of the two defective switches it ruined cruise servo and harness. I was totally unaware of brake lights being out until my wife followed me home one night I thought it was just cruise problem. Failure is not corrected as the design of the switch is poor and each one results in same problem and now melted harness needs replaced, which entails replacing the entire underhood wiring harness at a cost of $400 plus labor. There is a recall pending on F150 from 1995-1999 but Bronco is not listed when in fact the Bronco uses the same harness and switch as the F150. Saw the article online hereabcnews.go.com/business/wirestory?id=608161

- Saint Albans, WV, USA

problem #2

Mar 202005

Bronco Diesel

  • Automatic transmission
  • 102,000 miles
While parked for twenty hours cruise control switch ignitied by itself. As a result, vehicle caught on fire. The owner was able to save the vehicle.

- Union, WV, USA

problem #1

Sep 182003

Bronco 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 70,000 miles
The truck had been parked for about 30 minutes prior to the incident. The speed control switch on the brake master cylinder overheated and charred the area. Replaced switch and control module.

- Cardiff, CA, USA