Ford Bronco hatchback recalled for hard-to-reach seat belt latches

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As with some other vehicles on the market, the bronco ford is having a hard time staying out of the principal’s office. He National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted an audit of Ford Point vehicle for the off-road sector, and did not like the math in the seat belt latches for the driver and front passenger. A section on “Occupant Accident Protection” in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard book (FMVSS No. 208 S7.4.4), contains a subsection covering “Access to latch plate”. The subsection basically states how easy it should be for the driver and passenger to reach above their shoulders to the seat belt latch plate (the part that goes inside the buckle), and requires that the latch plate not get stuck. between vehicle trim or furniture. .

It turns out that in the five doors bronco, but not on the two-door Bronco, the latch plate does not have enough clearance between the seat back and the interior trim for easy access. The concern is that the driver and passenger will simply not wear their seatbelts instead of possibly needing to fish for them, hence the recall.

ford said that 175,550 Broncos hatchbacks involved in the recall were built between September 23, 2020 and May 9, 2023. Each of them is expected to experience the issue. The breakdown by model year is:

• 39,302 Model Year 2021 5-Door Broncos
• 88,704 Model Year 2022 Broncos 5-Door
• 47,544 Model Year 2023 5-Door Broncos

The company is investigating how the issue bypassed engineering controls. The solution is a trip to the distributor having a sliding clip attached to the belt that holds the latch in a legal position. The tech writers will also add a section to the owner’s manual on “proper use” of what is effectively a fancy barrette.

Ford says it hopes to start sending letters to owners on June 30. Until then, five-door Bronco owners can contact their Ford dealer and ask them to look up information for their vehicle on Ford’s Online Automotive Service Information System (OASIS). ) database. They can also contact Ford Customer Care at 866-436-7332 and refer to internal recall number 23C16. A third option is to contact NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236 (TTY 800-424-9153), or visit www.nhtsa.gov and search for campaign number 23V358.