NHTSA Complaint #11476304 — 2021 FORD BRONCO

Whilst traveling at highway speeds on the Jersey Turnpike, black smoke suddenly started emanating from the rear of the vehicle. All power was suddenly lost from the vehicle, with the accelerator pedal being nonfunctional. I was able, even though the vehicle was starting to fill with smoke and leave a trail of smoke behind, navigate across the lanes to the hard shoulder. The engine had of course ceased to run. At this time I exited the vehicle to assess the situation. Upon finding no obvious defects and the smoke having cleared, I reentered the vehicle, to see what the engine would do when the key was turned. The engine would not turn over, with only items running off of battery power. Basically the car was dead. At this time I called a AAA for a tow of the car. Unfortunately AAA can't tow on the New Jersey Turnpike, so a local tow company had to be called, to transport the car to a local exit. After the car was deposited in a car park close by, I then reached out to AAA to transport the car to my local Ford dealer. The Bronco was taken to Stamford Ford, in CT, where after inspection, we were told the car had suffered a "catastrophic failure". The vehicle took over one month before it was returned, as the whole engine had to be rebuilt.