NHTSA Complaint #11463296 — 2021 FORD BRONCO

On Monday, March 7, 2021, my Ford Bronco First Edition with the 2.7 engine experienced catastrophic engine failure. I was driving near my home when my vehicle stopped running. I did feel a strange pull in my steering and tires; but I was also driving on ice and assumed it was the traction control system at play. I was wrong. It was my engine losing compression and my engine failing. My dash lit up with a series of errors (all in quick succession and could not catch them all) and my vehicle lost all power and control. As mentioned above, I was driving on ice covered roads and had difficulty steering. I attempted to pull off the road and into a parking lot; however, the drive sloped up and I could not get clear of the entryway. I had to stop blocking the entrance to the veterinarian's parking lot. To increase the risk here, my vehicle was not visible from traffic turning in because of snow banks that were taller than my vehicle. I want to stress how incredibly lucky I was that this happened close to home. I went on a road trip and had returned home the night before. We had contemplated taking the Bronco. If we had, we would have broken down on the Parks Highway in Alaska. This highway is remote at most times with spotty cell service. The risks of having broken down in subzero temperatures with zero help was extremely high in my area. I also consider myself extremely lucky that I had a friend that was able to come move my vehicle from blocking the business entrance. When I used the Ford app to get a tow, it quoted me 7 hours. I did call and complain that that was unacceptable. The vehicle was towed to the dealership and catastrophic engine failure was determined with a faulty valve being the contributing factor. This is a known valve issue and I have included my engine build date sticker in the photos. I included a photo of my Bronco being loaded on the tow truck showing the ice roads and snow bank blocking my car from view.