Ford filed NHTSA recall 26V299 on May 12, 2026. Sixteen thousand Broncos. The Molded-in-Color hard top — the premium factory roof that Ford and supplier Webasto spent years struggling to produce — may crack through its outer layer and throw pieces onto following traffic at highway speed.
The problem has been five years in the making.
The Recall: What It Is
The issue lives in the MIC hard top's outer skin. Webasto manufactures the roof by bonding a painted outer layer to the structural panel beneath. Ford and Webasto determined this year that variances in thermal cycle testing reproduced the failure: the outer skin cracks, and detaching pieces fly off the vehicle while it's moving.
Sixteen thousand, two hundred vehicles are affected. Of those, 15,045 are 2021 model year Broncos. Another 1,155 are from the 2022 model year. By March 2026, Ford had tallied 25 warranty claims, two field reports, and two customer complaints. No crashes, no injuries on record.
The fix is free. But it won't be ready until November 2026.
Interim notification letters began shipping May 27. They inform owners of the recall and confirm a remedy is in development. Actual remedy notification goes out November 5. Between now and then, owners with visible cracking or delamination can take the truck to a Ford dealer for inspection and replacement under interim dealer guidance — without waiting for the official remedy program.
Affected Build Dates
The production window is specific. Ford builds the Bronco at Michigan Assembly Plant. The vehicles covered by recall 26V299 were assembled during this window:
| Body Style | Build Start | Build End |
|---|---|---|
| 3-door (2-door) | September 23, 2020 | January 13, 2022 |
| 4-door | September 23, 2020 | October 22, 2021 |
If your Bronco has a production date within those ranges and the MIC hard top, the recall applies. Ford's internal recall number is 26S32. Verify your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls or ford.com/support/recalls.
The 2023 and 2024 Broncos are not affected. They fall outside the production window tied to the manufacturing variance.
Five Years of Bronco Roof Issues
This recall doesn't arrive without context.
The Bronco launched for 2021 with the MIC top as its premium hard roof option. Ford projected an 80% take rate on hard tops. Webasto, despite opening a dedicated facility in Plymouth, Michigan specifically to support Bronco production, couldn't keep pace. COVID disrupted tooling shipments from Italy and China. Worker shortages compounded the backlog.
Ford responded by quietly switching thousands of customer orders from hard tops to soft tops before delivery. Owner complaints about quality on delivered tops were immediate: misaligned latches, separating headliners, raw panel edges, warping around mounting bolts, and a snakeskin texture in the outer laminate when exposed to humidity.
In August 2021, Ford announced it would replace every MIC top produced to date. Not a subset. All of them. That was the scale of the early quality problem.
The 2026 recall is different in kind. Cosmetic defects became a structural safety issue. Shedding panels at highway speed threatens other drivers, not just the Bronco owner. The thermal process variance that Webasto and Ford identified this year is specific enough to define the affected build window precisely — which is why the 4-door cutoff is October 2021 and the 3-door runs through January 2022.
What This Means for Used Buyers
If you're shopping a 2021 Bronco with a hard top, add one step before you negotiate: check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls for recall 26V299.
An open recall on this campaign is not automatically a reason to walk away. The repair is free and Ford is committed to completing it. But you need to know where the vehicle stands before you agree to a price. A Bronco whose panels already show cracking or bubbling is a truck with active structural deterioration — don't buy it until the repair is complete.
How to inspect during your walkthrough:
- Run your hands along all panel seams and across the flat top surface. Any cracking through the painted outer layer is the defect.
- Look for bubbling or separation between layers near panel edges, particularly along the rear section.
- Any visible delamination or texture break in the outer skin means deterioration is underway. Ask the dealer to complete the recall before you proceed.
A 2023 or 2024 Bronco with the MIC top avoids this recall entirely. If those years fit your budget, your VIN check has one fewer concern.
CarScout members tracking Bronco inventory by year, body style, and trim can set price alerts to catch deals as they appear. See current market pricing at /market/ford/bronco.
FAQ
What is the Ford Bronco recall 26V299? NHTSA recall 26V299, filed May 12, 2026, covers 16,200 2021 and early 2022 Ford Broncos with Molded-in-Color (MIC) hard tops. The outer skin of the roof panel may crack and detach from the vehicle while driving. Ford's recall number is 26S32. Repairs are free of charge once the remedy is finalized in November 2026.
When will Ford fix the Bronco hard top recall? The full remedy program is expected to be ready around November 5, 2026. Interim notification letters went out starting May 27, 2026. If your top shows visible cracking or delamination now, you don't have to wait: take it to a Ford dealer for inspection and interim replacement under current dealer guidance.
Does the 2023 or 2024 Ford Bronco have the hard top recall? No. Recall 26V299 applies only to vehicles built between September 23, 2020 and January 13, 2022 (3-door) or October 22, 2021 (4-door). The 2023 and 2024 model years fall outside this production window and are not included.