NHTSA Complaint #11615490 — 2021 FORD BRONCO SPORT

The vehicle was traveling on a major highway when at a red light the car stopped and the auto start/stop engaged and the car turned off. After the car turned off I could not restart it. All power to the car was lost. No lights, radio, nothing. I attempted to put the car in neutral to move it off the highway, however the car is designed in a way it can not simply just be shifted into neutral. I grabbed the owners manual and read I needed to pull the manual park release cable located under the steering wheel. I pull the cable nothing. At this point I’ve called the local police department and they send out 2 officers. They attempt to shift the car into neutral as well, to no luck. I read the electronic parking break needs to be turned off but the car needs power to do this. My car has no power. A man comes with a jumper box and attempts to jump the car when it starts smoking. The battery has full voltage however it’s not transferring power to the car. I have to sit in the middle of a highway for 2 hours until a tow truck can tow my car. In those 2 hours I was at a significant risk of bodily and property damage and also risking harm to the other drivers on the road. Ford has no suggestion how to fix my specific problem. They’ve not taken into account a situation where there is no power to turn off the electronic parking break, to pull the cable and shift the car into neutral. The Ford service department had no idea how to replicate the situation to try and fix it. All I asked Ford for was a way to safely be able to remove my car from the middle of traffic the next time it happens. They have told me they can not help me. The Delaware city police department sent two officers who witnessed the event. Prior to the loss of power there was no warning. $1000 later I had a new starter put in and Ford did some recall work on it. However in my opinion the car is unsafe in the event power is lost again on the road.