Buying a used Ford Bronco: the recall record, model year by model year
The sixth-generation Bronco has been on sale for five years now, which means the used market is finally deep enough to shop properly. It also means five years of recall history has piled up — and on July 24, Ford added the biggest campaign yet.
If you're cross-shopping a used Bronco this month, here's what the record actually looks like.
The fire recall that landed two weeks ago
Ford is recalling 565,691 model-year 2021–2026 Bronco and Bronco Raptor SUVs in the U.S. under NHTSA campaign 26V468 (Ford's internal number is 26S55). The engine wiring harness can rub against surrounding components without enough abrasion protection, exposing wires and causing intermittent shorts hot enough to start a fire. Ford has linked 15 fires between October 2024 and June 2026 to the defect. The fix — convolute sheathing and abrasion tape over the affected wiring — is free at Ford and Lincoln dealers, and U.S. owner letters go out August 24.
In Canada, the same defect is Transport Canada recall 2026356, filed July 20 and covering 36,061 vehicles. Same model years, same remedy.
That gap between 565,691 and 36,061 isn't a discrepancy — it's just market size. But it's a good illustration of why a vehicle that crossed the border needs checking in both systems, which is the whole problem with imported used cars.
This recall does not cover the Bronco Sport. More on why that matters below.
Every Bronco campaign since 2021, by model year
We keep a local copy of Transport Canada's full recall database, so we can count campaigns per model year rather than per marketing headline. Here's how many distinct Canadian recall campaigns touch each model year of the modern Bronco and Bronco Sport:
| Model year | Bronco | Bronco Sport |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | 16 |
| 2022 | 19 | 14 |
| 2023 | 18 | 12 |
| 2024 | 12 | 9 |
| 2025 | 12 | 6 |
| 2026 (YTD) | 6 | 4 |
Read that table carefully, because the obvious conclusion is the wrong one. A 2021 Bronco has more campaigns than a 2025 partly because defects surface over time — a 2021 has had five years on the road to accumulate them, a 2025 has had one. Some of the 2025 and 2026 tally is still in the mail.
What the table does tell you honestly is that the 2021 launch year carries the heaviest load, which tracks with the Bronco's well-documented rocky launch. If two otherwise identical trucks are in front of you and one is a 2021, the 2021 has more repair history to verify.
What actually goes wrong
Across the 42 Canadian campaigns filed against 2021-and-newer Broncos, the recurring themes are:
- Cameras and screens (9 campaigns) — the single most common category. A May 2025 campaign covering 159,135 vehicles was a software fault that could freeze or blank the rearview camera in reverse; a March 2026 campaign covering 81,850 was an infotainment unit overheating and taking the camera with it.
- Body and structure (8 campaigns) — the Bronco's removable roof and door hardware show up here repeatedly.
- Electrical (3), engine (3), seats and restraints (3), brakes (3), airbags (3).
One worth flagging for Canadian buyers specifically: a January 2026 campaign covering 138,783 vehicles for an engine block heater that can leak coolant and short out when plugged in. That one replaced an October 2025 campaign for the same problem — a recall do-over, which means some trucks were "fixed" once already and still need a second visit. If you're buying a Bronco that's been through a Canadian winter, that's the campaign to confirm by VIN rather than by the seller's word.
Bronco vs. Bronco Sport: not the same vehicle
This trips up buyers constantly. The Bronco and the Bronco Sport share a name and almost nothing else — different platforms, different plants, different recall records. The Sport is not part of the fire recall.
The VIN settles it in three characters. The full-size Bronco is built at Michigan Assembly in Wayne, Michigan, and carries the world manufacturer identifier 1FM. The Bronco Sport is built in Hermosillo, Mexico, and carries 3FM. If a listing says "Bronco" and the VIN starts with 3FM, you're looking at a Sport — which may be exactly what you want, but it's a different truck at a different price. (The full 17-character breakdown covers the rest.)
What this does to the price conversation
Broncos have held value unusually well — Kelley Blue Book puts the average used Bronco transaction around $44,050, roughly 51% above the average used vehicle, and CarEdge estimates about 57% depreciation over five years. Supply is loosening, though, and a truck with an open fire recall is a truck with negotiating room.
It shouldn't be much room, honestly. The remedy is free and parts are available now. But an unrepaired open recall is a real, documented reason to ask, and a seller who didn't know about a campaign this widely covered probably hasn't been tracking the other eleven either.
Before you hand over money
Get the VIN from the listing — not the plate, not the year and trim — and run it. Our decoder is free and checks both Transport Canada and NHTSA in one pass, so a U.S.-import Bronco sitting on a Canadian lot gets checked against the system it was originally sold into as well as the one it lives in now.
What a VIN check gives you is the open-recall picture and the build details. It is not a history report: it won't tell you about accidents, title branding, or odometer rollback, and you should budget for those checks separately. But of the two, the recall check is the one that's free and takes ten seconds.
Campaign counts, unit figures, and defect descriptions computed from the Transport Canada Vehicle Recalls Database (data current to July 31, 2026). U.S. recall figures, fire count, and remedy details from NHTSA campaign 26V468 as reported July 24, 2026. Pricing and depreciation estimates from Kelley Blue Book and CarEdge. Always confirm your specific VIN with a dealer before buying.