Ford Recalls 565,691 Broncos Over Engine-Bay Fire Risk

DEARBORN — If you own a current-generation Bronco, the next service visit is not about soft tops or beadlocks. It is about a wiring harness that can rub itself raw and catch fire under the hood.

Ford told NHTSA it is recalling 565,691 model-year 2021–2026 Bronco and Bronco Raptor vehicles built from September 23, 2020, through June 28, 2026. The company recall number is 26S55. NHTSA lists the campaign as 26V468. Ford estimates about 1% of that population actually carries the defect, but nearly the whole run is in the recall so dealers can catch the ones that do.

The failure path is mechanical before it is dramatic. Relative movement between the engine-compartment harness and nearby parts, plus thin abrasion protection, can wear the covering until circuits are exposed. Intermittent shorts arc. Heat or spark can smoke nearby materials or ignite them. Ford’s chronology says drivers may see smoke in the air vents or a cluster warning before flames on the passenger side of the engine bay.

As of July 13, Ford said it had evidence of 15 fire events that may have started at that harness, spanning warranty, field, customer-service, owner-questionnaire, and legal-claim channels between October 15, 2024, and June 20, 2026. Seven of those were Bronco Raptors. Eight were base Broncos. Ford told the agency it is not aware of any accident or injury tied to the condition.

That Raptor skew is not a trivia line. Ford’s own review found Raptor harnesses more likely to see the chafing contact that base trucks do, which matches how those trucks get used: more suspension travel, more vibration, more trail miles. Base Broncos still wore enough in vibration testing for Ford to treat them as a real risk, not a footnote.

The free remedy is deliberately small. Dealers add convolute sheathing with abrasion tape to the engine-compartment wire harness so the covering stops rubbing through. No charge. Owner notification letters are scheduled to mail August 24 through August 28, 2026. VINs were planned to be searchable on NHTSA’s site from July 23, so you do not need to wait for the envelope to know whether your truck is listed.

For Asian American and Asian Canadian households that bought a Bronco as the weekend adventure truck beside a Civic, CR-V, or hybrid daily, treat this like any other open safety campaign: run the VIN, call the dealer, get on the schedule before the letter wave hits. Smoke in the vents or a sudden electrical warning is not a "drive it home and Google later" moment. Pull over somewhere safe, get out, and treat the engine bay as a fire scene until a tech says otherwise.

Used-market shoppers should ask the boring question out loud. Is 26S55 closed on this VIN, or still open? An open recall is not automatically a walk-away on a used Bronco, but an unanswered one is a negotiation and a service appointment, not a shrug. Pair the paperwork check with our car affordability calculator, lease or buy family car guide, and shop auto insurance before you buy before you stretch for Sasquatch tires and a payment that assumes the truck is already sorted.

Ford has already been living in a high-recall year; trade coverage has been counting this as campaign number 60 for 2026. Volume brands generate volume campaigns. What matters for owners is narrower: a known chafe point, a cheap protective wrap, and a late-August letter that should not be the first time you hear about it.

If the Bronco is still on your shortlist for customization or trail trim, keep the fun adjacent to the safety work. Our note on Ford’s Custom Garage Bronco Desert Rising push is the lifestyle side of the same nameplate. Get the harness covered first. Then argue about roof colors.