2026 data Public-data reference. official source

1987 FORD BRONCO — Complaint #388773

Open-data reference.

NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BACK UP LIGHTS:SWITCH filed January 11, 2003

NHTSA complaint #388773 (ODI reference 10000948) concerns a 1987 FORD BRONCO and was filed on January 11, 2003. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 24, 2002. The report was geocoded to Minnesota based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:back up lights:switch, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 10. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD BRONCO cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:back up lights:switch failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1987 FORD BRONCO shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
1987 FORD BRONCO
Component
EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BACK UP LIGHTS:SWITCH
Deaths
10
State
Minnesota

Complaint Description

I HAVE A 1987 FORD BRONCO XLT THAT I BOUGHT FROM J AND L AUTO. IT HAS NO BRAKE LIGHTS, NO BLINKERS AND THE HEAD LIGHTS ARE STUCK ON BRIGHT. THE BACK WINDOW IS PLEXY GLASS, ALSO NONE OF THE HOSE ARE HOOKED UP UNDER THE HOOD. THIS MAKES IT RUN REAL RICH AND THE OIL LEAKS SO BAD THAT EVERY WEEK I HAVE TO PUT IN 2 QUARTS OF OIL. THERE WAS ALSO A GAS LEAK THAT WAS SMALL AND GOT WORSE AS TIME WENT ON. I TRIED TO FIX THE GAS LEAK BUT I CAN'T FIND A USED ONE ANY WHERE. AS FOR FIXING THE REST OF THE STUFF I STILL OWE MONEY ON THE BRONCO WHICH I HAVE NOT PAID BECAUSE ITS NOT STREET LEGAL I HAD TO BUY A DIFFERENT CAR JUST TO GET BACK AND FORTH TO WORK BECAUSE I WAS AFRED I WOULD BE IN A CRASH BECAUSE OF NO BRAKE LIGHTS.TS

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 388773
ODI Number 10000948
Date Filed January 11, 2003
Failure Date October 24, 2002

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.