2-Door Bronco soft top option

[kodiakisland]

Seems to me this would have been one of the most logical questions in the dog and pony show today. As much as they were pimping the soft top, I would have asked why exactly it's only a 4 door option. Makes no sense. Push the soft top over and over, but not one word, or question, about WHY it's not a 2 door option.

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[xcxv]

You will be able to order 2D Softie for ‘22. MIC will become a paid option matching Jeep prices.

 

[BadSquatch21]

Sometimes regulations make no sense, but I'm guessing the top in a convertible vehicle is assumed to confer no safety benefits. That cardboard MIC top isn't saving any lives, let alone the soft top.

Only explanation that makes sense is that part of the Webasto contract stated there would be no competition for production 2-door roofs. Although you would think that Ford has Webasto over a barrel right now and could negotiate for some contract alterations.

I would think at this point Webasto has pretty much shit the bed as far as their contractual obligations go and it wouldn't be hard for Ford legally to say go F- yourself and offer a softtop at this point. Webasto can't produce a viable product. The comment about the Bestop not being high enough quality to be covered under OEM warranty makes more sense.

 

[AZ_Liberty]

You will be able to order 2D Softie for ‘22. MIC will become a paid option matching Jeep prices.

Yeah. I expect that Ford is going to make the 2Door soft-top default for 22, and raise the price to 29,950 before destination/delivery.

Ford - Deliver my 2-door without a top. I'm fine. I'll buy a sunrider top for it and get a hard top in 2023.

 

[ReimundKrohn]

I would think at this point Webasto has pretty much shit the bed as far as their contractual obligations go and it wouldn't be hard for Ford legally to say go F- yourself and offer a softtop at this point. Webasto can't produce a viable product. The comment about the Bestop not being high enough quality to be covered under OEM warranty makes more sense.

Except that Bestop is a factory supplier for Jeep soft tops, and reviews of the Bestop fastback soft top from those who have had a chance to see them at the Off Rodeos are all positive.

 

[ReimundKrohn]

“Why no 2 Door soft top offering?” was a major question everyone wanted asked in the Livestream, but Nick said it was a question Ford didn’t want to hear (not his words) because they had already said this was not an option and wasn’t going to be. The question “why?” SHOULD still have been asked.

Ford isn’t a privately owned company. They answer to share holders. Share holders expect profits. If Ford is sitting on a “bad batch” of Broncos at Dirt Mountain due to bad roofs, AND they have a ready source of good roofs from an alternate supplier (Bestop), then failing to offer them to the customers to expedite units and collect payment is a bad business decision that costs Ford and it’s shareholders money.

Forget asking Ford “Why?”. Ask the Shareholders why no 2 door soft tops. I bet they will be able to squeeze an answer out of Ford…. Or get them to reconsider.

 

[LC4Dakar]

2-Door Bestop installation looks complicated. 40 pages of instructions.
Price not horrible ($1100 to $1600).

https://www.bestop.com/wp-content/uploads/Installation Instructions/BDKW_56872-INS_001.pdf

 

[Tricky Dick]

Put that on my dirt mountain steed and ship it today. I'd gladly use the crap out of that top.

Ditto. My guess is I'll eventually only use the MIC top in snowy months anyway and will rock the Bestop the rest of the year.

 

[cigartexan]

CAFE safety standards set back in the 70's or 80's. Due to regs. Ford has to sell a certain number of Hard top 2Doors before it can sell Soft tops versions.

 

[airishfan]

Jeep sales 2 door Wranglers with soft tops so if its for safety then is there something that makes a Bronco unsafe or is this a new thing and jeep won't be able to sell soft tops ether.

 

[JaxGtc]

I like Bestop, but the fast back 2-door version makes it look like an s-10 blazer. It is a trade off.

 

[j_anderson]

CAFE safety standards set back in the 70's or 80's. Due to regs. Ford has to sell a certain number of Hard top 2Doors before it can sell Soft tops versions.

I see people citing some regulation somewhere but no one can ever point to the regulation for people to read. Is this written somewhere on the inter webs where we might be able to read the verbiage?

 

[cigartexan]

I see people citing some regulation somewhere but no one can ever point to the regulation for people to read. Is this written somewhere on the inter webs where we might be able to read the verbiage?

I don't know where it is in the many hundreds of pages. It's been explained to me as a size/type/weight thing. Jeep is not a good example, this just has to do with initial production.

 

[cigartexan]

https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/corporate-average-fuel-economy#light-duty-vehicles

 

[stuckinohio]

That's an interesting viewpoint and one worthy of further research/debate. I had not thought about the (obvious) exclusivity contracts.

That being said, Webasto is about to pay back about 110% of absolutely every single penny of any performance clause, failure to fulfill clause or production delay clause in their contracts.

Only being a fly on the wall during some of the Microsoft debates with their legal providers during the EU defense contract negotiations, often times any of these performance clauses can be offset and agreed upon at a higher level.


Now, onto the point that i've read in the tea leaves (helpfully left behind by some sources near the issue), is that Bestop tops did not meet the safety and quality requirements of FoMoCo for it to be included in the vehicle warranty, thus Ford wasn't going to be augmenting one terrible situation by jumping into hot water with a new and potentially difficult situation of unsafe/low-quality roofs.

*Note that there were no hints as to specifically what was wrong with them, the design or any further details at all. And I cannot cite any source or give any further information other than the above. Which means it could be entirely false or not. Just sharing the results of my divination.

Wow. It's hard for me to believe Bestop wouldn't meet the quality requirements for Ford after seeing the droopy rear on the top that Ford is using on the 4 doors! Their soft tops for the JL are top notchin my opinion.

But, I do know from personal experience with the 2018 JL Wrangler that Bestop is painfully slow producing new products. If you didn't get a Wrangler with the soft top or dual top option you didn't get a soft top until at least a year after the vehicle was released!

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