Ford Bronco models hindered by rear shock issues. Now what?
Justin Banner
MotorTrend
While the Ford Bronco Raptor is the ultimate off-roading SUV from the Blue Oval, cheaper thrills on roads less paved can be found with the Badlands and Sasquatch Broncos. Well, given the latest news, you may want to avoid the really rough stuff until Ford fixes a recently discovered problem. Announced in mid-January, Ford and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have issued a recall on nearly 150,000 of those capable off-roaders due to an issue with the rear shocks on 2021 to 2024 model year Broncos in both two- and four-door models.
The build date timespan to look out for is 9/30/2020 to 7/23/2024 on your driver's side door jam label. During this span, Bilstein supplied Ford with a rear damper for the Badlands and Sasquatch optioned Broncos that included an external reservoir as part of its End Stop Control Valve (ESCV) system. As an aside, it's an interesting system that allows for a more progressive extreme compression and rebound events — almost like an internal bumpstop — before relying on harsher external bumpstops. The integrated external reservoir on the shock body is what allows Bilstein to insert these ESCV springs and piston stops as it allows for more oil in the damper body along with allowing for longer piston travel by putting the nitrogen charge and its piston — for cavitation control — outside.
The issue stems from corrosion between the damper body and integrated external reservoir mounting flange that's welded to the body. This not only can cause leakage of shock oil but can also lead to full failure with the reservoir falling off and becoming a road hazard for other drivers. This also means that you might be able to notice something is wrong before full failure occurs. If you notice that the rear shocks on your Badlands or Sasquatch aren't doing any damping anymore or notice a strange sign of a fluid leak near your rear wheels, there's a good chance that the connection between the reservoir and damper body has failed and you need to get it off the road and into your local Ford dealer.
In case you missed it:Ford recalls nearly 73,000 vehicles for potentially faulty rear-view camera
Currently, the recall is only for the rear dampers despite the same style of Bilstein shock used on the front axle. We're just taking a guess here, but the rear Bilsteins do appear to be ever so slightly more exposed when compared to the fronts and its associated running gear, but there hasn't been an official explanation on why corrosion is only an issue on the rears. We also don't know if Bilstein uses these dampers on other Ford products or if similarly attached reservoirs from Bilstein are having similar corrosion and separation issues. From a quick glance, it does appear that the ESCV dampers are unique to the Bronco, but we have reached out to Ford and Bilstein on this.
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There's another problem: there isn't a fix yet. Ford is working to develop one but considering that these failures happened on Broncos built up to the midpoint of last year, simply yanking the bad ones out and installing new OE replacements isn't the viable solution. We have reached out to both Ford and Bilstein and will update this story if we hear back from either side.
Photos by MotorTrend Staff, manufacturer
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