Ford Recalls 36,046 Bronco Raptors Over Fender Flares That Can Fly Off at Speed

Ford Motor Company is recalling 36,046 Bronco Raptor SUVs after finding that the fender flares bolted to the body can work loose and separate from the vehicle at highway speed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the recall as campaign 26V403 on July 1, 2026, covering Bronco models fitted with the Raptor package and built between October 1, 2021, and May 6, 2026. Ford’s internal reference for the fix is 26S47.

A fender flare that detaches on the highway does not just leave a gap in the bodywork. It becomes a road hazard for the cars behind you, capable of striking a following vehicle or forcing a driver to swerve. Ford has told regulators it has no reports yet of a crash or injury tied to the defect, but the company opened the recall after a warranty claim in January 2026 involving a 2026 Bronco Raptor whose front-right flare came off at highway speed.

What Went Wrong at the Supplier

Ford traced the failures to a parts supplier whose production tooling had not been kept in proper working order. The tooling was cutting the attachment holes in the flares either too small or too large, and it was leaving burrs and stray fibers around the holes. Those flaws stopped the flares from seating fully against the body on the assembly line. A flare that never fully seats can start to loosen the moment the truck hits a rough road or a stretch of interstate, and vibration does the rest.

Warning Signs to Watch For

Ford is asking Bronco Raptor owners to look at their fender flares for a visible gap between the flare and the body, sagging along the edge, or a flare that sits crooked compared with the panel next to it. Rattling, clicking, or a flapping sound at highway speed is another signal that a flare has started to work loose. Owners who notice any of these signs should have a dealer inspect the vehicle rather than wait for the recall notice to arrive in the mail.

How to Check If Your Bronco Is Affected

Owners can confirm whether their SUV is part of the recall by entering the vehicle identification number at NHTSA.gov/recalls or by calling the agency’s Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236. Ford’s own customer service line, 1-866-436-7332, can also confirm eligibility using the 26S47 reference number. Ford plans to start mailing owner notification letters on August 10, 2026. A second round of letters will follow once the repair parts are ready, which Ford expects in late August 2026. Dealers will inspect the flares and repair or replace them at no cost, and owners will not pay for parts, labor, or a rental car while the fix is completed.

Part of a Recall-Heavy Year

The Bronco Raptor recall lands in the middle of one of the busier recall stretches Ford has had in 2026. Earlier this month, Ford issued a separate recall covering 741,195 trucks and SUVs with a transmission park system that can let the vehicle roll away after the driver puts it in park. That recall, and the fender flare campaign, both arrived as NHTSA pushed out a wide batch of new safety notices in the first week of July, covering brands from General Motors to Nissan to RV maker Tiffin Motorhomes. Ford has logged multiple safety campaigns in 2026 covering the Bronco Sport, Maverick, Expedition, Navigator, Explorer, and now the Bronco Raptor, a pace that has kept dealer service departments busy processing free repairs across the lineup.

For Bronco Raptor owners, the fix itself is simple once parts are available: a technician inspects the flare attachment points, tightens or replaces hardware where needed, and swaps in a new flare if the old one is damaged. Owners who already paid out of pocket to fix a loose or missing flare before the recall was announced should keep their receipt and ask their dealer whether Ford will reimburse the cost once the remedy is in place.

What To Do Next

Bronco Raptor owners built in the affected window should check their VIN now rather than wait for a letter that will not arrive until August. If a flare already shows a gap, sag, or noise at speed, a same-week dealer visit is worth the trip. Drivers who share the road with a Bronco Raptor showing a loose flare should give the vehicle extra following distance until the repair is made.

Reading a Recall Number Like This One

Every NHTSA safety campaign carries two reference numbers, and both are worth writing down before a dealer visit. The federal number, 26V403, tells you the year the recall opened and where it sits in NHTSA’s public database. The manufacturer number, in this case Ford’s 26S47, is what the dealer’s service system will search for when scheduling the repair. Owners who call ahead with both numbers in hand tend to get a faster answer on parts availability than owners who only mention “the Bronco recall.” The gap between a recall’s opening date and the date a fix becomes available is normal. Automakers use that window to build the replacement parts and write the repair instructions dealers will follow, and NHTSA requires a second owner letter once that work is finished. In this case, Ford has told regulators the flare stock should be ready by late August 2026, only a few weeks behind the first notification mailing.

Why Body Panel Recalls Get Serious Attention

Fender flares look like a cosmetic add-on, and the comment sections under early coverage of this recall have plenty of owners pointing out that Bronco flares are designed to be removable by hand on some trims. But the flares covered by this campaign are structural components bolted through the body, not the quarter-turn accessory panels sold as options on lower trims. Federal investigators treat any part that can come free at speed as a road hazard problem, regardless of how minor the part looks sitting in a parts catalog. A two-pound piece of plastic and metal separating from a truck traveling 70 mph carries enough force to crack a windshield or total the panel of a following car, which is why NHTSA classified this defect as a crash risk rather than a cosmetic complaint.

How This Recall Fits Into Ford’s 2026 Total

Federal regulators logged around 300 separate recall campaigns across the industry in 2026 alone, a pace that has kept dealer service departments running free-repair queues on top of routine maintenance appointments. Ford has been one of the more active manufacturers on that list this year, with campaigns touching the Bronco Sport, Maverick, Expedition, Navigator, Explorer, F-150, and now the Bronco Raptor. Two of those Ford campaigns this year carried a do-not-drive warning, a stronger designation than the one attached to the fender flare recall, which does not tell owners to stop driving the vehicle while waiting for the fix. The volume of recalls in a given year is not, on its own, a reliable measure of how safe a brand’s lineup is. Larger automakers sell more vehicles across more model years, which mechanically produces more individual campaigns even when the rate of defects per vehicle stays flat. What counts more for an individual owner is whether their specific VIN falls inside an affected build window, which is why the VIN lookup step tells an owner more than the headline count of recalls a brand has filed in a calendar year.

What Owners Have Been Saying

Online forums and comment sections under early coverage of this recall show a mix of reactions from Bronco owners. Some pointed out that certain Bronco trims use quarter-turn removable flares meant to come off by hand, which led to confusion about whether this recall covers those parts or a separate, bolted-through-the-body flare exclusive to the Raptor package. Ford’s filing is specific to the Raptor package flares, which are structural rather than the owner-removable accessory panels sold on other trims. Other owners used the moment to flag unrelated complaints, including slow parts availability on older Ford recalls and a separate issue with Bronco headlights staying on after the vehicle is shut off, a reminder that one open recall often surfaces a wider set of maintenance frustrations in the comments underneath it.

Sources:

• Ford Authority
• WBIW
• NHTSA Recalls