AutoUtility currently tracks 217 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2023 Ford Bronco. Visibility, Wipers & Glass issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 94 complaints (43.3% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 5 filings cite a crash, 3 cite a fire, 2 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 217 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Visibility, Wipers & Glass (94 reports • 43.3% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (22), Powertrain & Transmission (20)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 5 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 3 filings
  • • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 2 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
217
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
5
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
3
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
2
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2023 Ford Bronco

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 43.3% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

94 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
🩹 1 injury report entry
#2 Problem Area 10.1% of complaints

Electrical System

22 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 2 crash reports
#3 Problem Area 9.2% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

20 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 7.8% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

17 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 7.8% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

17 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2023 Ford Bronco

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Powertrain & Transmission 2.8% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

6 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2023 Ford Bronco

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11758711
Filed: 08/22/2026

"Steering rack component failure, vague steering, play during steering directional change, Light grinding noise when turning steering wheel."

Incident Date: 08/15/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11756193
Filed: 08/11/2026

"The MIC hardtop is bubbling some at the top and has a line where it looks like perhaps it is assembled on the back panel over the top that is discolored in comparison to the rest of the top. Furthermore, the middle panel is a different color than the rest of the hardtop. It is available for..."

Incident Date: 08/10/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11756156
1 Injury Entry Filed: 08/11/2026

"I was going really slow down an easy dirt road in 4L and all of the sudden the steering wheel spun violently two full turns left in under a second on its own. This threw my right arm off the wheel where it hit the shifter with force leaving a large bruise. Steering system fault warning appeared,..."

Incident Date: 08/08/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11751149
Filed: 07/17/2026

"The MIC hard top component on my Ford Bronco is cracking. I have gotten it replaced twice through Ford for the same issue, but now this is my 3rd top and the issue keeps coming back."

Incident Date: 03/01/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11750266
Filed: 07/14/2026

"2023 Ford Bronco with 7 speed manual transmission. The transmission started grinding while shifting into 3rd gear and occasionally popping out of 3rd gear. This mostly occurred while upshifting and rarely while downshifting. All other gears are operating as normal. While the grinding problem would..."

Incident Date: 06/24/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Ford Bronco

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2021–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2021 Ford Bronco 225 6 20 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Ford Bronco 366 6 23 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Ford Bronco Current Page 217 5 18 Current
2024 Ford Bronco 73 4 16 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Ford Bronco 0 0 19 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Ford Bronco 0 0 7 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2023 Ford Bronco

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 47 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 85 0 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 14 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 12 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 11 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 10 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 9 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 8 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 8 1 1 0 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 6 1 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 6 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 4 0 0 1 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 4 0 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 1 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 0 1 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 2 0 0 0 0
STRUCTURE,VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EQUIPMENT 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 1 0 0 0
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
Equipment & Accessories NHTSA category: EQUIPMENT 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,FIRERELATED 1 0 1 0 0
Lane Departure Warning NHTSA category: LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
PARKING BRAKE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SEAT BELTS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VISIBILITY,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 1 1 0 0 0
WHEELS,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (217). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Related Official Reports for 2023 Ford Bronco

Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year

Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.