Ford Bronco Under NHTSA Investigation For Catastrophic Engine Failure

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation involving the Ford Bronco. According to the Office of Defect Investigation (ODI), three petitions were submitted in March requesting a defect investigation of alleged valve defects on select Broncos. The petitions are under ODI numbers 11461178, 11460125, and 11460124. 

According to the NHTSA document, 2021 model year Ford Bronco units are involved – all equipped with the twin-turbo 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 engine. ODI recorded 32 complaints in connection to this alleged failure.

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The NHTSA document's problem description reads:

Under normal driving conditions without warning the vehicle may experience a loss of motive power without restart due to catastrophic engine failure related to a faulty valve within 2.7 L Eco-Boost Engines.

The ODI will be evaluating the issue and will decide whether to grant or deny the petitions.

A thread on Bronco6G has been recording the number of Bronco owners that have experienced the said engine failure. As of May 31, 2022, there are 50 reported units on the list – some are as young as 3 miles while others have almost 7,000 miles on the clock. Common among all these Broncos are their 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 engines.

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Though unconfirmed at this point, reports said that the issue lies with the valves used in the 2.7-liter engine, which were supplied by a vendor. A bad batch of valves allegedly has defects that cause them to become brittle from the heat of combustion.

We would like to point out that this is still under investigation and it appears that not all 25,000 2021 Bronco units are affected. It's unclear whether other Ford products equipped with the same EcoBoost engines are experiencing the same issue.

Of note, the ODI didn't disclose the start date of the investigation involving the said Bronco units.

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