This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
When driving with the windshield wipers on low speed, after about 30 seconds the wipers will stop and then go into "intermit" mode. To correct you have to turn the wipers from hi to lo, and then the exact same problem occurs. I did take the vehicle to the dealer who inspected and told me this is normal due to the "smart wiper system" that they are equipped with. This is a highly unsafe condition since its very hard to see in heavy rain
When set to high speed the wipers after a brief period will "slow down to protect the wiper motor" or something, creating a situation where in even mild rain the car forces the wipers to slow down making it unsafe. Clearly... Ford has severely under spec'd the wiper motor/gearbox hardware and "fixed" it with software making the vehicle unsafe where it will just randomly decide that high speed wiper's are not available anymore.
I have driven multiple times in the rain and when using the wipers, they slow down almost to a crawl impairing visibility. It doesn't matter what setting they are on, they slow down to the point that I am unable to see. I have to manually restart the wiping process each time, but the problem persists. It happens on all settings. It gets to the point that I don't feel safe driving it sometimes.
At the top 2 wiper speeds, the windshield wipers will slow down to speeds where I am unable to see. It-??s extremely dangerous, especially at faster driving speeds.
The new Bronco has "smart wipers", this is what I have been told from the dealership. The when wipers are on constant Medium or High speed, after about 45 sec to 1 minute, the wipers resort to a slow intermittent feature. This happened to me during a very heavy rain on the morning of 2/8/23. This was a huge safety issue! When my wipers stopped on me this morning, I almost ran off the road due to the inability to see- super heavy rain. After researching this issue, it is a very large, wide spread issue that many Bronco owners are experiencing. There are no warning lights, nor did the dealership say anything about this issue when I purchased the Bronco- 5 days ago. This needs to be a recall to replace the wiper motor to a standard motor and not a "smart motor". I have owned many fords and this is the only one that I have owned that has this issue.
- Nixa , MO, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
** NOTE: THIS COMPLAINT HAS BEEN CORRECTED! FORD AND DEALER REPLACED WIPER MOTOR AND ISSUE IS RESOLVED. THIS WAS REPORTED TO NHTSA FOR UPDATE PURPOSES"... NHTSA ID Number: 11498595 Incident Date December 22, 2022 Consumer Location ROME, NY Vehicle Identification Number 1FMDE5BH4NL**** Summary of Complaint The wipers will slow down when operating at low, high, or intermittent. Ford claims these are "Smart Wipers" I believe there is an issue that requires a feature correction or re-flash of the related program to correct. I have to continually adjust the wiper control knob to re-set the wipers to the proper speed.
The wipers contol has 6 settings, off, intermittent (1,2,3), low speed continuous, high speed continuous. When in the low continuous the wipers will automatically (I did not touch anything) change to intermittent. To get them back to continuous you have to switch off/on or high/low. In even moderate rain you are blind for a second while you fiddle with the controls. www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/wiper-control-speed-issues-urgent-safety.31809 is a Blog containing over 14 months of Bronco owners complaining about this issue. I experienced it this morning at 04:00 driving in the rain. Got scary for a minute as I thought my wipers failed. My Bronco is new, only 900 miles on it.
Wipers slow down for no reason during time low or high speed wiping conditions. In order to keep the pipers wiping continuously I have to switch to another setting before going back to the desired high or low seed. Very dangerous and distracting in low visibility conditions. Lots of owners reporting same issue on Bronco6g forum
When isn-??t the wipers on constant low or high they slow down after a few seconds and you can not see. You have to change the setting on the wipers then change them back to reset the wipers.
During a heavy downpour the wipers "automatically" slowed down to an unsafe speed; continuous to intermittent. This caused an inability to clearly see out of the front windshield. The only way to "reset" the wipers to normal functionality was to change the wiper setting from continuous to intermittent and back, or off and then back to the desired setting. During this period of time of > 3 seconds there was zero visibility creating a serious safety hazard. This operational behavior of the wiper motor system has occurred several times though during less intense rainfall.
Wipers in slow and fast speeds seam to go to intermediate on their own, the only way to get them back into full wipe mode is to go back and forth between slow and fast speeds!
In heavy downpours wipers will "automatically" slow down to an unsafe speed. if you have the wipers on the fastest setting in heavy downpour, out of no where the wipers will automatically slow down to barely moving. This creates an a situation where your visibility is almost taken to zero instantaneously. This is 100% related to programming.
With the wipers in the continuous on, high speed setting, the wipers will operate as expected for approximately 30 to 40 seconds. After that time, there will be a delay between wipes that becomes progressively longer until the wipers are only occasionally wiping the windshield. When this occurs during rainy conditions, visibility deteriorates considerably. Manually switching the wipers into a different setting, then back to continuous on will cause the wipers to operate as expected for another 30 to 40 seconds, at which point the progressive delay occurs again. There are no warning lights or other symptoms that are related to this behavior. The vehicle has not yet been inspected or serviced by the manufacturer for this issue.
During moderate to heavy rain when the windshield wipers are on constant low speed or high speed they will operate normally for 60 to 90 seconds then go into an intermittent wiping mode. This cause very poor visibility increasing the chance for an accident. I have taken the vehicle to the dealership (Newberg Ford in Newberg Oregon) for warranty repair and was advised this is normal operation. The dealership staff provided me with Ford Technical Service Bulletin SSM 50692 and said there was nothing they could do. The bulletin states that the wiper speed could be reduced if the windshield is dry or obstructed to prevent damage to the wiper motor. I continue to have the wipers reduce speed on a WET windshield with no obstructions. I have video to demonstrate this.
Unknown- t he wipers on the bronco do not stay at the correct speeds for severe rain or snow. If I have them on high they work for a bit and then start to slow down and make it hard to see so I have to turn them off and on again to keep the speed at a pace where I have visibility.
The wipers will slow down when operating at low, high, or intermittent. Ford claims these are "Smart Wipers" I believe there is an issue that requires a feature correction or re-flash of the related program to correct. I have to continually adjust the wiper control knob to re-set the wipers to the proper speed.
If windshield wipers are placed in normal or fast mode they start out fine, then get slower and slower until they stop completely. I needed to toggle between normal and fast just to keep them working. (I verified I-??m NOT in interment mode).
When the windshield wipers are set to normal operation (not intermittent), the wipers would slow down and sometimes stop completely after a few wipes. There is no a automatic wiper mode. This is a safety defect on a new car. The wipers would stop during heavy rain. It does not matter if the vehicle is moving or not.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Flemington, NJ, USA