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The Ford Bronco II is Ford’s major rollover
problem vehicle. Ford made the Bronco II a
derivative vehicle of the Ford Ranger because only a
moderate investment would be required. This made the
Bronco II more profitable due to its shared assembly
line with the Ranger and its similar structure to the
Ranger. The same platform was used for the Ford Bronco
II as for the Ranger so that the Bronco II could be
sped to the market ahead of GM’s Chevrolet Blazer.
During the development of the Bronco II, it
became clear that Ford would not meet the company’s
stated safety and engineering design goals.
The car was too high and too narrow to "reduce
rollover propensity" or "respond safely to
large steering inputs which are typical of accident
avoidance or emergency maneuvers." The Jeep CJ-7
was the Bronco II’s image vehicle, and Ford tried
to duplicate the CJ-7’s performance and characteristics
despite the Jeep CJ-5 and CJ-7 having rollover propensities
significantly higher than other vehicles in their class.
The Jeep and subsequently the Bronco II had very low
Stability Index ratings (a factor of height and width
of wheelbase).
As early as February 1981, Ford engineers identified
the Bronco II’s poor stability index as a key
problem with the vehicle. For an additional
cost of $83 per vehicle, Ford could have made a substantially
safer car. These changes were rejected by Ford management
because they would have delayed production and sale
of the vehicle. Ford did not widen the SUV three to
four inches until 2002, almost 20 years after the engineers’
warnings. Before a single vehicle rolled off the assembly
line, Ford executives at the highest level knew that
the Bronco II was unsafe, and would roll over, injure
and potentially kill a significant number of the people
who bought it.
If you are a victim of a Ford
Bronco II rollover accident, contact our accident lawyers
today for a free, confidential consultation.
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