Exterior Lighting Problems of Ford Bronco

Description of incident: > while driving in freezing drizzle/sleet conditions in northern minnesota, the factory-installed led headlights on my 2025 Ford Bronco became obscured by ice buildup within 15 minutes of driving. ?the safety issue: > the led headlights do not produce sufficient heat to melt frozen precipitation. This resulted in a degradation of forward visibility during nighttime driving, creating a safety hazard. I was forced to pull over repeatedly on a high-speed roadway to manually scrape ice from the lenses. ?request: > I am reporting this as a design defect for vehicles sold in northern climates. The lack of a heating element or DE-icing mechanism in the standard led equipment makes the vehicle unsafe for nighttime driving during freezing weather with high humidity conditions.

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Driving in sub-freezing temperatures with snow/rain falling and slush on the road, the headlights iced over with thick slush and ice and reduced visibility to dangerous levels requiring me to pull off the road and chip off the ice putting myself in a dangerous situation being on the side of the road during a storm.

While driving on the interstate in light snow and mostly clear and semi dry roads, ice accumulates on both the head lights and the foglights to a degree that they no longer project enough light to see far enough ahead at even moderate speeds. When I pulled over to inspect them, the surface was coated with a mix of ice and dirt rendering them useless. Ambient temperatures were between 24 and 30 degrees. It seems that the led lights lack enough heat to protect from ice accumulation and a heat element of some type should have been included given the placement of the lights being somewhat recessed and that allows for accumulation. Obviously in pre-dawn darkness this produced an unsafe operation of a vehicle at highway speeds due to not being able to see the road far enough in advance. As far as I know it has not been addressed or noticed by Ford since there is no information about this in their manual. I have seen aftermarket products that heat the light surface and prevent the accumulation of ice - Ford should retrofit something to prevent the accumulation of ice on light surfaces.

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On November 30th, 2025 I drove southbound from milwaukee to chicago, leaving at approximately 5:30 a. M. , on I-41. There was a winter storm warning in effect. Approximately every twenty miles I needed to stop and deice my headlights as light output had diminished to almost zero, resulting in extremely dangerous visibility. I have experienced similar problems in manitoba and western minnesota. In these areas, there is often more than fifteen miles before you can exit the highway or find a safe place to pull over. It is not possible to get this problem diagnosed by a dealer. However, it is a common complaint among Bronco (and Jeep) owners. The combination of an upright grill and the low heat output of led lighting quickly render headlights useless in snowy or icing conditions. No warnings appear; light output simply quickly drops to almost nothing.

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While driving in snowy conditions the headlights become covered with snow to the point of not illuminating enough to see. Which then makes trying to find a spot to pull over safely to wipe them becomes extremely dangerous. The snow covered lights happens quickly. Creating hazardous driving conditions. The data provided is the most recent. This happens every winter since purchasing this vehicle. I was not familiar with notifying your agency until recently.

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Tail lights sensors / control are defective in some way. To be clear the tail lights at the rear of the vechile work perfectly fine and are very bright. They light up during lock and unlock. Also if you set headlight to on when parked. Also note brake lights still work in all situations. However. When they are set to auto at times they don’t light at all even at night. Also if in auto every time when you shift into reverse or drive they also go out. Took video of this issue after two dealer visits they said they were unable to replicate. They are suppose to replace the vechile control unit next week. I have my doubts that’s the issue. I’m willing to wager it’s the body control unit that’s the issue which my vechile doesn’t have for some reason because it wasn’t equipped with the tow package.

When turning right, with the turn signal active, the turn signal will over-correct back to neutral and activate the left turn signal. This happens almost every time a sharp right turn is made, such as leaving a parking lot. The signal stalk must then by manually moved back to neutral. This is repeatable and occurs multiple times a week. This creates risk by presenting a false left turn signal to other drivers. This is a common issue on the Bronco, but Ford motor company has not provided a fix, TSB, or recall.

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Driving in wet sticky snow the unheated led headlamps collect snow quickly and provide almost zero projection of light forward. When driving in areas without overhead lighting at night this becomes a serious safety concern and may lead to a serious accident when drivers cannot see any possible obstructions in the roadway or accurately see the edge of the road surface. Have been unable to demonstrate this flaw to any dealers due to snow being unpredictable and dealerships being closed at night. I do have dash cam video showing the issue that can be provided for review, video uploaded to youtube here [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Headlights unable to produce enough heat to melt snow when driving in minor/major snow storms, causes the headlights to be very dull or apear to be not functioning.

Right turn signal in front and rear went out.

Ford and other manufacturer are in huge rushes to convert to led headlights. Ford designed the front headlights to be completely vertical, with no headlight housing heater. In freezing fog, snow and sleet the headlights almost immediately get covered and are useless and you can’t see anything. It’s only a matter of time for a major accident attached are some of the numerous complaints of owners all over the internet.

The headlight/taillights control dial switches modes and settings when entering and existing vehicle, the dial for the auto lights it will change and turn off the lights so that while you drive at night the daytime driving lights come on but there will be no rear tail lights. Creating a very dangerous driving at night with no tail lights . I have not taken it in to the dealer as it is intermittent problem and hard to recreate on demand at the dealership. The only remedy is to check the settings dial several times while driving to confirm that the headlights settings have stayed to a lights on condition.

I live in northern California and we have snow. I was driving after dark about 6:30pm and it was snowing. Saturday, March 2nd. I was on the freeway to head to a high school performance and picking up passengers. I was on the road about 15 minutes and I was suddenly unable to see the road, it was dark and I thought my lights went off. I pulled over, with 3 passengers to find that my headlights were covered in snow and the light was no illuminating the road. I removed the snow and was able to exit at the next offramp about a half mile ahead. I stayed on the side roads that were a bit more protected by large pine trees. I was able to make it to safely, but I was at risk, with my passengers and other vehicles on the road. Thankfully, I was able to move my car later that night to get it home when it stopped snowing. I then called Ford in auburn the next day and they said they were not aware of this issue but would see me and made an appointment. I then looked online and found many people complaining about this on many vehicles. It stems from the fact that led lights do not emit heat. The heat is what keeps the snow from accumulating in the first place. The lights continue to be on, but you are only able to see a small glow under the snow until there is enough snow they are not seen at all. I was at the service department today at auburn Ford that they looked at the vehicle and then looked online and can see other people with the same issue. Ford has not addressed this issue. They suggested I try rain x or other non stick product. They said I can call Ford and place a complaint and I did that today. Case #cxh01666140 I was then informed that I need to make a claim with the NHTSA to have this claim reviewed. I was absolutely terrified when the road went dark and I was not able to see and I could not be seen by other cars. This is a safety issue!! there were no warning lamps or messages, no other symptoms or failures.

Led headlights on new 21+Ford Bronco do not have enough heat to melt snow or ice that builds up on the headlights while traveling. There are thousands of posts online from different drivers confirming this issue with winter weather. The headlights become clogged with snow and visibility at night is reduced to an unsafe amount. The headlights will have to be cleared manually, resulting in additional unsafe situations, and get filled back up again in under 10 min. This has not been inspected by the manufacture for my vehicle - but should be recalled and replaced with heated headlamps of some sort. The problem can be reproduced any time by anyone driving a Bronco in freezing rain or snow. I have attached photos of other Broncos with this exact issue.

I have reported this prior (complaint number 11481579). Another total catastrophic shut down of the vehicle occurred while my son was driving causing a near miss fatal rear ending on a busy road. The vehicle loses all power and electrical for no reason while being driven. Only after 5-10 min can the vehicle be restarted. I am reporting this story to new agency so I recommend the NHTSA take issue seriously.

The contact owns a 2022 Ford Bronco. The contact stated while the vehicle is in park (p) and the vehicle had not been driven for more than 30 minutes the headlights will turn on independently. The contact stated that the failure had been intermittent, however the frequency of the head lights independently turning on had increased. The contact stated the head light warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the four position head light dial will rotate beyond the point where the markers on the dial indicate the level of lighting. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer. The vehicle had not been diagnosed and had not been repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The contact had researched online and related the failure to NHTSA id number: 10214159 (exterior lighting). The failure mileage was 2,177.

Like NHTSA id number 11490060 the headlights on my 2022 Bronco will randomly come on and go off when the vehicle is parked. When checking the position of the headlight switch it is not at any illuminated position (un-commanded). This problem has caused the vehicle battery to drain charge. The low battery shuts down the auto stop/start feature. The dealer service department is unaware of the headlight problem. They replaced the battery under the 3 year warranty. All Ford and the service departments have to do is google "2022 Ford Bronco headlight problem". This is an ongoing problem.

The contact owns a 2022 Ford Bronco. The contact stated while driving in inclement snowy weather, snow became stuck to the front headlights. Due to the failure, visibility was obstructed while driving at night. The contact frequently pulled over and manually cleared the headlights of snow to resume driving with greater visibility. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 700.