Cowl Grill - Ticking Timebomb?

[BigMex]

We had beautiful weekend weather here in Ohio, and I took advantage of it to work on my Bronco, installing some new lights and other chonk. After having the vehicle sit outside in the sun, I opened the hood and encountered some weird resistance, followed by a horrible sounding crunching noise.

The windshield edge of the hood had somehow snagged on the cowl grill piece of plastic, and ripped it up about 4 inches above normal height. All the tabs were bent inward.
I checked for any tools or any chonk I might have left in the engine compartment or around the hood perimeter. Every tool has been accounted for, and I can’t explain why my hood snagged on the cowl.

A replacement cowl grill goes for about $175-$200.

Has anyone had this happen to your Bronco? I think I saw a story on Facebook that described the same thing happening to them. My Bronco is a 2021 Badlands, I have never popped the cowl cover up, and I have no wiring running through there and no A-pillar lights either.

I’ve only had one windshield replacement done, and that was last summer, and that’s the only time that cowl grill might have been detached. Maybe that’s all it took? Maybe the return of warm sunny weather warped my cow grill and caused it to snag on the hood?

For now, I’ve got a piece of cardboard wedged to press the cowl grill down when the hood is closed, and to avoid another snagging incident. I’m deciding whether or not I wanna buy another cowl piece right away, or wait until I get some A-pillar lights later this year.

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[Fordified1]

They warp and pucker from setting in the sun because Ford cheaped out on the plastic they are made of apparently. Your hood caught the pucker when you raised it probably.

 

[GI_Jo_Nathan]

I'm gonna need pics of this "chonk"...

 

[BigMex]

I'm gonna need pics of this "chonk"...

I’ll add more pics tomorrow. Chonk is my generic term for Bronco accessories. In this instance I added an Auxbeam 8 switch panel plus other things.

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

4 page thread here.

https://bronco6g.com/forum/threads/psa-warning-do-not-open-hood-in-hot-weather.47628/

 

[JT58Bronc]

My 2022 I have had for 3 years now sits in the FL hot sun on occasion and I have not had this issue. And FL sun is scorching hot. I do worry about the hot sun on plastics- deformation and fading.

 

[Shazamalingo]

Happened to my 22 in 2023 at the dealer. They were changing oil and the exact same thing happened - they put up the hood and it caught. They replaced it for free obviously. But I don’t think it was the sun (though we get a ton and the bronco sits in it). My guess is that somehow wind or something nudged it up just a bit.​

Hasn’t happened since.​

 

[BigMex]

4 page thread here.

https://bronco6g.com/forum/threads/psa-warning-do-not-open-hood-in-hot-weather.47628/

Thanks! I searched for the word “cowl” and nothing relevant seemed to come up. I didn’t mean to be a lazy poster/searcher.

 

[Fordified1]

I started watching my ‘24 cowl when I first read about the issue. It rarely sits in full sun because it’s under a carport at home but when I backed it in facing west last summer it did start to pucker a little in full sun making a small gap at the windshield which allows dirt and leaves to get in between the plastic and the windshield. It’s just a crappy design with crappy materials. Why they tried to nickel and dime the Bronco with cheap materials is beyond me. All the Bronco plastics have had complaints of poor quality starting with the interiors since 2021. I think our 2024 does have slightly better interior plastics than the earlier years though.

 

[Chiefonator]

Had one do this to one of our salespeople and it cracked the windshield.

 

[Jtbob3]

I live in hot Georgia and have not seen this issue on my ‘23 Bronco. I park outside in the sun with no shade to be found.

I don’t have to open my hood very often in the heat of the day but I will keep an eye on this now.

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

I started watching my ‘24 cowl when I first read about the issue. It rarely sits in full sun because it’s under a carport at home but when I backed it in facing west last summer it did start to pucker a little in full sun making a small gap at the windshield which allows dirt and leaves to get in between the plastic and the windshield. It’s just a crappy design with crappy materials. Why they tried to nickel and dime the Bronco with cheap materials is beyond me. All the Bronco plastics have had complaints of poor quality starting with the interiors since 2021. I think our 2024 does have slightly better interior plastics than the earlier years though.

Because it's ford and they nickel and dime everything. Even their pride and joy F150s have material and build quality issues. They're lucky they build some fun and interesting vehicles. I've said "This is my last Ford" for my last several Fords and yet I keep finding myself with another new one.

 

[Fordified1]

Because it's ford and they nickel and dime everything. Even their pride and joy F150s have material and build quality issues. They're lucky they build some fun and interesting vehicles. I've said "This is my last Ford" for my last several Fords and yet I keep finding myself with another new one.

This 2024 BD is my first new vehicle and I ordered it. Many many used Fords that went well over 100k miles with almost zero issues. One has over 300k. But we’re talking 1960’s through 2003 then in 2016 a 2015 Mustang convertible ecoboost with a couple recalls, no biggie. None of them were economy cars though. My Daughter had issues with her Focus because it was built cheap.

 

[Swordofthemorning]

Yep, it recently happened on my 22 Bronco. It got fixed under warranty thankfully. The service people blamed it on the windshield recall that took place a few years ago.

 

[Felix808]

Yep, I had all but forgotten about this & then we had one happen on the last trip

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