Bronco Achilles Heel - Hardtop build quality

[Dral97]

You're not wrong. But you have expectations that aren't in line with the sticker price (picture shows a Sasquatch Moar Door Badlands with minimum High package). You are making the correlation that the top should match the sticker price. But the top's quality matches the Base sticker price. Ford doesn't make a top with higher quality based on what trim you order.

The quality is still unacceptable. Last year, (I won't tag/call out the poster) a member was posting/boasting with a picture of their FE and 392 side-by-side. Yet, their MIC top on their FE looked like a checkerboard of mismatch panels. Personally, I wouldn't have posted a photo of that hot mess as it was an embarrassment.

Ideally, the quality should reflect the top trim and lower trims benefit from the improved quality. But Ford has done the opposite by offering the same Base quality throughout. The FE and WT has the same cheap interior plastics as the Base does and by extension the same cheap MIC top that is offered on the Base.

Agree. I just got a 392, and Jeep does the same thing. There is a nice leather dash panel that comes on the high altitudes (which are supposed to be the 'fancy' wranglers). These are still 30k or so less than the 392's. You'd think they'd do some things in the 392 interior other than some head rest stitching, like maybe give us the leather dash panels standard. It seems that Jeep handles it the same way, the upper trims don't really benefit from anything extra in terms of the interior. I'm not complaining about the wrangler interior really. They've come a long way since the YJ days, but it would still be nice to get a few extra interior bells and whistles on a jeep that's just a few k short of 100k.

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[HeHateMe]

High and Lux deserve the Raptor digital instrument cluster.

Facts.

 

[Rocket]

My top is perfect on a 22 delivered in April

 

[Quitefrankly]

On my 23 Wildtrak 4door I only see one part with a slight issue. On the front drive and passenger so first panel of hard top, there is a slight gap in the back part of the hard top as it goes to the second panel. Overall no issues taking off and sound quality is good on the inside unless I’m gunning the v6 off a stop or a hill.

you can see this small gap on the 5th picture but seems immaterial.

 

[shieldsy]

Ford in 2020: The painted modular top for our higher trims will have pop out windows and hatches and more!! It’s all amazing!! Stay pumped!

Ford in 2021: If you change your order to a soft top or our crappy MIC top we can offer you 200,000 pass points or, if you prefer, you can wait for the delayed mod top and we can offer you price protection!! Stay pumped!!

Ford in 2022: We can offer you price protection through 2023 due to the imaginary mod top not being ready!! Stay pumped!!

Ford in 2023: All those who waited for the mod top….we don’t know what you are talking about..talk to your dealer.

You will receive no points for switching to a MIC or softie.

You will not receive price protection after ‘23 in order to wait for a mod top.

You need to order your mod-top less Bronco by Nov of ‘21 or we will drop your reservation.

If you want a mod top you can move to a mid trim big bend and stand in that Q3/Q4 line over there.

If you have any problems or concerns please contact your dealer…whom we are not communicating any mod top information with either.

 

[TheJess]

Thats a bot that replies then when you message them you get some ding dong working in a cubicle in who knows where that doesnt know shit about fuck.

(and @BroncoBenster )Just throwing this out there. I engaged with the Ford member using the messaging on this forum, and while they may very well be some ding dong working in a cubicle, a ticket got opened with Ford. And while I don't know that the ticket influenced my level of service at the dealer, as a result of the ticket I did get some additional non-monetary compensation (service agreement for my first three years, including synthetic oil for oil changes). When there is a social media opportunity to get on a corporation's radar, always take it. It's free, and while again I'm not sure that they specifically did anything (i.e. I wouldn't make it my sole course of action), it feels better to know that your dealership didn't do something to placate you and the issue died there, and never reached Ford. That said, my issue was with a bad APIM, but as soon as I hit 'post reply,' I'm going out to check my MIC top

 

[Darcyjs14]

Although my Badlands doesn't have the same hardtop issue as yours, I completely agree that the hardtop is its achilles heel.
My hardtop suffers from wind noise which I have tried to solve with all the tips and tricks listed in other forums on this site. And for the neigh sayers who are about to explode saying the Bronco is a purpose built vehicle.......yeah, got that. Understood, and I have owned multiple jeeps before with both hard top and soft top. I do not have unreasonable expectations.

My solution to the hardtop is simple.... I am giving up on Ford's inferior top and am ordering an aftermarket, single piece hard top. The fact of the matter is that when I want to remove the top, it ALL comes off, so why do I need these stupid panels that just cause air leaks.
This is what I am going to go with: https://www.advfiberglass.com/products/2021-2023-ford-bronco-hardtop?variant=39545751306342

i appreciate that you’re taking the plunge. It’s an expensive test to see if you can eliminate the wind noise and, hopefully, across multiple temperature zones (soggy and cold PNW with occasional very cold days; deep freeze midwest; baking hot Arizona and Texas; soggy and humid and sunbaked Florida and Louisiana). Getting any exterior product to work across all those variables is a complex engineering task and one that Ford’s supplier didn’t do well. When I traded my WT last month it was noisy AF. I’m wondering whether I’ll remove the roof at all on my Braptor, in hopes of limiting the opportunities for the roof seals to not line up properly when i put them back on. Moving from the WT to the Braptor made me realize how noisy my WT had become, from misaligned windows to creaky roof panels, it was a endless chatter going on down the road. The Braptor is lux car quiet by comparison. But given that it’s the same roof as on the WT, i expect it to get to the same noisy place in time.

if you see good results, and Ford makes limited improvements, i think many of us will swallow the cost of that ADV one-piece roof.

 

[ChrisB351]

(and @BroncoBenster )Just throwing this out there. I engaged with the Ford member using the messaging on this forum, and while they may very well be some ding dong working in a cubicle, a ticket got opened with Ford. And while I don't know that the ticket influenced my level of service at the dealer, as a result of the ticket I did get some additional non-monetary compensation (service agreement for my first three years, including synthetic oil for oil changes). When there is a social media opportunity to get on a corporation's radar, always take it. It's free, and while again I'm not sure that they specifically did anything (i.e. I wouldn't make it my sole course of action), it feels better to know that your dealership didn't do something to placate you and the issue died there, and never reached Ford. That said, my issue was with a bad APIM, but as soon as I hit 'post reply,' I'm going out to check my MIC top

Im glad you got something. Ive had about 6 conversations back and forth with their rep. She claimed they opened a case with Ford and someone would contact me. Noone has contacted me and my dealer had nothing on an open case.

 

[BroncoBenster]

i appreciate that you’re taking the plunge. It’s an expensive test to see if you can eliminate the wind noise and, hopefully, across multiple temperature zones (soggy and cold PNW with occasional very cold days; deep freeze midwest; baking hot Arizona and Texas; soggy and humid and sunbaked Florida and Louisiana). Getting any exterior product to work across all those variables is a complex engineering task and one that Ford’s supplier didn’t do well. When I traded my WT last month it was noisy AF. I’m wondering whether I’ll remove the roof at all on my Braptor, in hopes of limiting the opportunities for the roof seals to not line up properly when i put them back on. Moving from the WT to the Braptor made me realize how noisy my WT had become, from misaligned windows to creaky roof panels, it was a endless chatter going on down the road. The Braptor is lux car quiet by comparison. But given that it’s the same roof as on the WT, i expect it to get to the same noisy place in time.

if you see good results, and Ford makes limited improvements, i think many of us will swallow the cost of that ADV one-piece roof.

I do not envy Ford's position. I believe they the had good intentions with the modular design, with the goal of making it easier to remove/configure in pieces. Removing front and mid panels is a breeze, and front two panels are off and bagged in minutes. I wish Ford would have included a storage bag for mid panel. The single piece hardtop on a jeep is a bear to remove and store.

 

[carrellslake]

On my 23 Wildtrak 4door I only see one part with a slight issue. On the front drive and passenger so first panel of hard top, there is a slight gap in the back part of the hard top as it goes to the second panel. Overall no issues taking off and sound quality is good on the inside unless I’m gunning the v6 off a stop or a hill.

you can see this small gap on the 5th picture but seems immaterial.

That gap is also present on my 22 2-door roof. The dealership said it's "as designed" but that's BS. It's a garbage seal. Mine has a larger gap than yours. I stuffed it with a small piece of foam weatherstripping and it helped, but it's not the only source of wind noise. No matter what I do, my roof sounds like a window is cracked at highway speeds.

 

[vzqhsg]

Thats a bot that replies then when you message them you get some ding dong working in a cubicle in who knows where that doesnt know shit about fuck.

Those must be two new options I haven't seen yet.

 

[TheJess]

Im glad you got something. Ive had about 6 conversations back and forth with their rep. She claimed they opened a case with Ford and someone would contact me. Noone has contacted me and my dealer had nothing on an open case.

I'm sorry. I'm assuming you've already done this, but if you haven't, I would totally ask your resident ding dong for the case number.

 

[A51OBX]

New to this Forum. I was excited to get my Bronco (definitely worth the wait), but my main concern (i.e. build/design/QC inline with sticker price) with getting a hard-top bronco reared its ugly head. I looked the vehicle over thoroughly when I took ownership. Happened to catch bird eye view of my Bronco and saw the discolored roof panel. Under closer inspection, also identified the infamous scaling.........

I held out and bought a 2022 model to try and avoid the roof problems. I thought Ford committed to replacement/fix and this would not impact 2022 build year, but I was mistaken. To Ford's credit, they quickly responded to my message post yesterday on this forum. For anyone having similar issues, I had to go through dealer's collision center to file a claim. I will post on how things progress. Curious if anyone else had a similar experience.

I have the second set of FORD design engineers looking at my Bronco Hardtop. They are so good they came up with the same conclusion as last time, leaking caused by seals and need to to add to the seals. The Problem is they added those seals last time they looked at the Bronco! I had to file a BBB claim in order to get them to work with me. Prior to that they said nothing else they could do, once I filed they contacted me pretty quickly, now they have no choice but to work with me and get it fixed!

 

[Quitefrankly]

That gap is also present on my 22 2-door roof. The dealership said it's "as designed" but that's BS. It's a garbage seal. Mine has a larger gap than yours. I stuffed it with a small piece of foam weatherstripping and it helped, but it's not the only source of wind noise. No matter what I do, my roof sounds like a window is cracked at highway speeds.

sorry to hear that - I do like the idea of weatherstripping that small portion of mine thanks for that - as of now it's super quiet inside of this one. I drive with sound off often in general to help me focus when heading into the national parks and didn't really have an issue so far.

I think my main concern besides that is how much I don't know about these types of vehicles and what to look out for if and when a problem does arise.

 

[ChrisB351]

I'm sorry. I'm assuming you've already done this, but if you haven't, I would totally ask your resident ding dong for the case number.

I did and havent got a reply

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