2021 2.7L Brake Failure

[negativezero]

Bronco really should have come with a manual e-brake.

2ish years into this fiasco, and today was the day I learned that it didn't.

Electric parking brake =/= emergency brake.
Electric parking brake = extra EXTRA brake that only applies when you're stopped to keep you stopped.

Adding "add my own emergency brake" to my future mods checklist, right in front of "2-door backseat LaserDisc player".

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[flip]

I know. The doors have power locks and windows in them. No idea why everything in the truck clicks when you plug or unplug them.
Someone needs to make a door dongle to trick the computer when the doors are off. I don’t have a problem starting it twice to clear it but it gets annoying for a 50k+ new vehicle. I’m sure it will be addressed in the over the air updates in the future.

My suburban was plagued with issues for the first 3 months. Gm did a excellent job with the updates. Have had zero issues in a year. Looking to be the best gm I’ve had yet. Hope ford does does as good.

Surprises the crap out of me they didn't have a dummy plug/shorting bar or function in the cluster that allows the door modules to "ignore" the open circuits created when the doors are plucked.

 

[flip]

2ish years into this fiasco, and today was the day I learned that it didn't.

Electric parking brake =/= emergency brake.
Electric parking brake = extra EXTRA brake that only applies when you're stopped to keep you stopped.

Adding "add my own emergency brake" to my future mods checklist, right in front of "2-door backseat LaserDisc player".

LOL and thanks for confirming. Was close a couple times to attempting a rolling e-brake set and chickened out.

 

[cowman]

So you check your brake fluid EVERY time you get in the car? I doubt that. Plus this was an electrical override of my brake pedal input.

I check it every time I raise the hood which is at least once a week.... I also look under the car I going to drive ever time I start to drive off... never know what might be leaking... just what I do...

 

[Raptor72]

The emergency brake would've done nothing. My experience is it will not apply if the vehicle is moving at all.

Okay maybe im old school, but the emergency brake is FOR moving vehicles. Yes, its also used on manuals while parked but by design its made to brake moving vehicles. Who told you ebrakes wont slow moving vehicles?

 

[da_jokker]

So sad Ford missed the mark on such a huge safety feature.

An emergency brake is designed to be just that.. to be applied while moving in an emergency.

A parking brake is designed to just hold a vehicle still after it is parked.

One would expect that a parking prake uses smaller "accessory" pads and the emergency brake makes use of the actual brake pads....but i know this is not true in all cases. The problem is, people interchange these words so much it's now confusing and misleading.

To give an example, my wife's Mazda has an Emergency brake...it is a manually lifted lever in the center console, that runs a physical cable to the rear disc caliper and actually uses the full disc brakes. The caliper piston is one of those "theaded" types so that the cable actually twists the piston to thread it out against the rotor. This will apply the brakes irregardless whether the car is moving, parked, turned off, or is having any sort of electrical gremlins.

Of course rear brakes can't stop as good as front brakes, but it sure beats the hell out of pushing (or more accurately lifting) a button to kindly ask a computer to electronically apply the brakes if it's in the "mood".

 

[DD214]

I check it every time I raise the hood which is at least once a week.... I also look under the car I going to drive ever time I start to drive off... never know what might be leaking... just what I do...

so really, by your own admission, you probably had a less than 1 in 7 chance at catching this issue assuming it was in fact the brake fluid…which it probably was not.

Good luck OP.

 

[Ramble_Offroad]

Wait, so the Bronco “parking brake” aka e-brake will not function when the vehicle is moving? Seriously? Did I read that correctly?

OP - any news from your dealer or Ford corporate?

 

[NC_Pinz]

Some of you are incorrect. The electric parking brake can be applied in the event of an emergency. Read page 198 of the 2022 Bronco Owner's Manual. You must apply and continue to manually apply the brake button/switch for it to be effective in an emergency.

 

[cowman]

so really, by your own admission, you probably had a less than 1 in 7 chance at catching this issue assuming it was in fact the brake fluid…which it probably was not.

Good luck OP.

One in seven is better than nothing..... you can always have a brake line failure or a wheel cyl. failure..... just stating to always check the brake fluid level.... not rocket science.... well I guess it is to some....

 

[Paxsui]

Okay maybe im old school, but the emergency brake is FOR moving vehicles. Yes, its also used on manuals while parked but by design its made to brake moving vehicles. Who told you ebrakes wont slow moving vehicles?

Pulling the "Parking Brake" while moving told me it doesn't slow moving vehicles.

 

[Raptor72]

Pulling the "Parking Brake" while moving told me it doesn't slow moving vehicles.

Yes Sir, just stepped out and look in my Bronco and it is indeed a parking brake. I stand corrected.

 

[da_jokker]

Some of you are incorrect. The electric parking brake can be applied in the event of an emergency. Read page 198 of the 2022 Bronco Owner's Manual. You must apply and continue to manually apply the brake button/switch for it to be effective in an emergency.

I thought I read somewhere on here that you're supposed to lift up and hold which will sort of manually override and apply the brake.

But then again, we have a member who pulled up too hard and the button broke off.

"In case of emergency, lift and hold the wannabe parking brake, but gently as to not break off the button, all while in a panic because your brand new Ford Tough vehicle was built with quality in mind"

 

[NC_Pinz]

I thought I read somewhere on here that you're supposed to lift up and hold which will sort of manually override and apply the brake.

But then again, we have a member who pulled up too hard and the button broke off.

"In case of emergency, lift and hold the wannabe parking brake, but gently as to not break off the button, all while in a panic because your brand new Ford Tough vehicle was built with quality in mind"

Correct. It says lift and hold...manually applying the parking / emergency brake until you come to a stop. Pull too hard and we've heard of folks breaking it.

 

[da_jokker]

Correct. It says lift and hold...manually applying the parking / emergency brake until you come to a stop. Pull too hard and we've heard of folks breaking it.

Thanks for the confirmation. That's just enforces the problem. Even trained professionals struggle with being calm and controlled under an emergency situation. Ford expects someone who all of a sudden realizes they don't have brakes to quickly find and gently lift on a plastic button...not going to happen. They should haveade that button so much stronger.

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