LOL - Every 2021 Ford Bronco With a Hardtop Needs a New One

[AZCooWhip]

Tough over on 6G right now. At least some are trying to take in stride and poke fun at Ford. Ford just making it worse and then there are those that have a screw loose ....thinking “this is really good news”. Huh?!

Sponsored

 

[5JeepsAz]

Ford did a recall because ugly.

Is good!

 

[MDPensFan]

The whole Bronco launch has been one long, extended shit show. I feel bad for the guys that put in a first night reservation in July 2020 and have been riding that roller coaster ever since. I only put in my reservation a month ago and I’m already tired of the drama.

With the announcement from Ford today that (after they install new tooling and perfect that process) they are finishing the First Edition orders, replacing tops on Broncos already delivered, replacing the tops on the thousands of Broncos sitting outside their plant, and THEN moving on to the reservation list, I tapped out. I’m not waiting until next fall or later in the hopes that Ford won’t bungle things further.

I’m heading to a Jeep dealership this weekend to test drive a Wrangler 4xE and a Gladiator. I’m leaning towards the Gladiator if the V6 is decent enough. Test drive car, buy car, get car, roof doesn’t disintegrate. What a novel concept!

 

[cdyoung9799]

"Ford itself says these Webasto-supplied tops suffer from quality issues that create an “unsatisfactory appearance when exposed to extreme water and humidity.”

So just leave your Bronco in the garage. Otherwise, THE WEATHER might void your warranty.

 

[jpjpjp]

When it was first released, didn't the gladiator have issues with welds, rear driveshaft assembled without grease, and other issues?

It's one thing to laugh at foreign company assembly lines & designs, but I wouldn't want to root against an American manufacturer. Particularly one whose product might incentivize Jeep to make a better Wrangler/Gladiator. Schadenfreude at the expense of an American company and American workers is sort of crappy, not to mention the consumers buying them.

 

[staying_tuned]

Love that they are stepping up. My top came looking like it was rattle canned on the top by a child.

Love my truck but yeah, good on Ford for addressing it at scale.

 

[RodRecket]

I think this is really unfortunate. Between the wait time and production mishaps it's really putting a damper on a cool product. Having the Bronco is a good thing. Jeep didn't even wait for the bronco to hit the streets before they up'd their game and put a package together that will include 35s and take numbers on clearances. I know we have a huge aftermarket that caters to us but factory competition is a good thing.

 

[staying_tuned]

Base bronco with Ford’s new small footprint big block 7.3 Godzilla crate motor swapped out and full send for days. People are already dropping perfectly good coyotes to swap it in, the coyote motor is spectacular but that 7.3 is truly incredible. That motor is hitting 1k hp with bolt-ons all in for far less than a hemi/hellcat swap or 392 if it comes to this platform. Laugh and point fingers but their array of offerings, especially with their performance division, make for a stellar platform once the kinks are worked out. I’ll not switch, had all the fun I need with Ford (in a good way) but the heat is coming for certain and that’s great for us.

 

[spectre6000]

Given Ford's track record on crazy bad screwups and leaving their customers out to dry, this is a bit of a surprise. I guess this is their entree into a particularly lucrative segment (as opposed to compact cars or heavy duty trucks) that they're not especially well known in (I seem to recall full size trucks having some significant issues that went unresolved a while back as well, but can't put a finger on it without digging into something I truly don't care about), and they figured the hit to their return on investment warranted lifting a finger. They're not super good at doing the "right thing" for their customers. I have a '51 F1 truck bed trailer, and that's about all the Ford I think I have any appetite for.

 

[DanW]

Well, for comparison, my 2018 JL was early production in the first model year. Fit and finish were perfect on it with the exception of one small glue drip from the hard top rear quarter window adhesive. Most people would have never noticed it. At 49k miles with lots of off-road beatings, I still have absolutely zero squeaks and rattles. I've had few issues overall with it. Ford would have done very well to have early Broncos be as good as my Jeep has been.

And all I've heard the last couple years from Ford fans is how they were going to show Jeep how its done in the quality department. Right.

I still hope Ford gets it right. That's good for the USA. But they aren't replacing all those tops out of the kindness of their hearts. The price is far greater if they don't do it. They'll kill the Bronco brand if they don't. Have you seen these tops and their problems? They are TERRIBLE. Much worse than bad paint. They look like they were made by a bunch of drunks in a garage late on a Friday night. Owners have been raising massive hell over it. it is BAD.

 

[foo.c]

Webasto makes the hard convertible tops for a lot of high end vehicles. I think they make the tops for all the euro manufacturers and I know they at least designed the C8 hard top convertible. Kinda surprised they are having issues.

 

[BamaJeepTruck]

Webasto makes the hard convertible tops for a lot of high end vehicles. I think they make the tops for all the euro manufacturers and I know they at least designed the C8 hard top convertible. Kinda surprised they are having issues.

My guess is Webasto is making the tops to Ford spec and using materials that don’t play well together. With how many other vehicles have great tops from them that’s the only thing I can think

 

[arneb04]

I feel like the majority of quality complains come from people who don’t own what they’re dogging. I’ve owned Jeeps a long time and I don’t find them to be any worse than any other thing I’ve owned. Conversely I heard great things about Nissan before dipping my toe in that water and I’ve been burned twice. Metaphorically 3rd degree skin grafts kind of burned. Ford has been off my list for awhile, just because I don’t think they can build an engine that lasts. I’ve never been a believer in slapping bells and whistles on a v6 to make it do v8 things, that just doesn’t seem like a win. In the grand scheme the 2 extra mpgs they claim for Café standards is all they care about, not how many times the customer has to replace the turbos. Glad they’re addressing the top issue now though. Had Nissan done that with their 2G Titan engines I’d maybe still be driving mine, but instead they let us deal with it on our own time without a guarantee of a permanent fix.

 

[NCJeeper]

I said it in another Bronco thread and I'll say it here.....this is what happens when you rush a product to market before it's ready.

You act as if the Gladiator hasn't had issues.. This is why people say not to buy the first model year of a new product. This isn't ford specific.

 

[ShrimpHappens]

Tired: Found On the Road Dead

Wired: Found On the Recall list Delayed

As others have said, at least they're addressing the problem head-on instead of insisting everything's fine like what they did with the PowerShift transmission.

Sponsored