Damage to interior front of Bronco, advice?

I can't think of anything that they would need to do behind the dash. That sucks to say the least.

wtf would they be trying to access when changing tires?

CNaz

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some insight as I have some damage to my new 2021 Bronco Big Bend that has 300 miles.

I brought my Bronco to a well-known tire place today and had some new, larger tires put on my Bronco. About 2 hours after I got home, I went out to the car and saw that there was a big crack to the right of the center dashboard, and that right above the charging station in the center, the piece of plastic was hanging down .25".
Im assuming the mechanic wanted to access something in the dashboard from the driver side, which also has damage, though less apparent, and cracked everything when trying to gain access.

I brought it back to the tire place and they they said management would be reaching out though I feel like this could be a battle.

I'm hoping someone could give me insight on why the technician may have wanted to access the dashboard area of the car?

Wow - that’s crazy! I can’t imagine why a tire shop would need to even touch your dashboard not to mention try & pull it out, damage it and then not tell you!

Just a thought - maybe the technician put a tool on the dash and it rolled into the gap by the window and they tried to unsuccessfully retrieve it (and now it’s rattling around back there)

Good luck getting that resolved & fixed quickly. Likely a long wait for replacement parts.

BTW - sorry this is your 1st post but welcome to BN & congrats on your mew ride!

That is brutal. Cannot think of any possible reason to mangle interior plastic for tire swap.

Right?! We had asked if they would be doing a speedo calibration due to the larger tires beforehand and they said no, we could get that done at the dealership if we wanted.
Thanks for the replies guys! Hopefully my next post is more positive!

The bad thing is with the fact that a tire tech would have no need to be accessing anything behind the dash, they are probably going to try to use that as their defense that they didn't do it. Hope it works out for you.

Looks to me like it broke trying to pull the panel that needs to come out to install the auto start stop eliminator.

CNaz

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some insight as I have some damage to my new 2021 Bronco Big Bend that has 300 miles.

I brought my Bronco to a well-known tire place today and had some new, larger tires put on my Bronco. About 2 hours after I got home, I went out to the car and saw that there was a big crack to the right of the center dashboard, and that right above the charging station in the center, the piece of plastic was hanging down .25".
Im assuming the mechanic wanted to access something in the dashboard from the driver side, which also has damage, though less apparent, and cracked everything when trying to gain access.

I brought it back to the tire place and they they said management would be reaching out though I feel like this could be a battle.

I'm hoping someone could give me insight on why the technician may have wanted to access the dashboard area of the car?

Did you stay at the dealership the whole time or drop it off and return to pick it up?

Any more pictures available

CNaz

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some insight as I have some damage to my new 2021 Bronco Big Bend that has 300 miles.

I brought my Bronco to a well-known tire place today and had some new, larger tires put on my Bronco. About 2 hours after I got home, I went out to the car and saw that there was a big crack to the right of the center dashboard, and that right above the charging station in the center, the piece of plastic was hanging down .25".
Im assuming the mechanic wanted to access something in the dashboard from the driver side, which also has damage, though less apparent, and cracked everything when trying to gain access.

I brought it back to the tire place and they they said management would be reaching out though I feel like this could be a battle.

I'm hoping someone could give me insight on why the technician may have wanted to access the dashboard area of the car?

That is terrible. The only logical reason they could possibly give is if they were installing something like a hypertech odometer to re-calibrate your speedo for larger tires. I have one in mine but I dont think that's where it was installed (dealer installed it).

I also have and installed myself the auto stop eliminator. It installs in that same area behind the center dash A/C controls. Pulling the A/C stack off takes a gentle yet firm hand or the dash could break. Plus you have to first lower the glovebox bracket and fusebox steering column cover before removing it..

I dont know why they would be messing with auto stop area unless a tech had an F150 and tried to steal a part. Far fetched. So my guess is someone was trying to recalibrate your speedo and F'd up.

I would ask to speak with whoever worked on your bronco and determine what they did so to maybe have it covered under warranty (no dealer will cover it btw). Then after the tech admits what he did and why, you have all the ammo you need to get the tire shop to pay you upfront for the repair. They may suggest reimbursing you (no) but after you explain how it will take up to a year to get a new dash....maybe they will feel some remorse and pay for the repair after dealer provides you with a written quote to fix.

Hope this helps.

After looking at the damage, theres a possibility they were just inside looking at it and kicked it on accident. Even if thstawer the case, they should have come clean and admitted it. That would be a hard hit also. I definitely would fight for them to fix it. Its probably going to cost more than the tires you bought.

CNaz

About 2 hours after I got home, I went out to the car and saw that there was a big crack to the right of the center dashboard, and that right above the charging station in the center, the piece of plastic was hanging down .25".

I actually think the answer may be in that statement. You didn't notice this giant crack and the dashboard jacked up when you got in and drove it home? And when you got home, for those 2 hours, was it sitting in your driveway unlocked? If so, I actually think it's more possible that some idiot thought they could steal your stereo and found it wasn't going to be that easy.

SuperMike

I actually think the answer may be in that statement. You didn't notice this giant crack and the dashboard jacked up when you got in and drove it home? And when you got home, for those 2 hours, was it sitting in your driveway unlocked? If so, I actually think it's more possible that some idiot thought they could steal your stereo and found it wasn't going to be that easy.

Well we're about 3 miles from the tire place and jumped on a work call for the ride home, so maybe not the most observant moments.
I have a hard time thinking it would be a break-in, it was locked in the drive way, we live at the end of a cul-de-sac and my husband was outside training our new dog to retrieve for an hour during those 2-2.5 hours it was parked in the driveway.
So far management hasn't denied or accepted fault, though I did speak to the manager (I sound like such a Karen lol) and she was going to reach out to a local Ford dealership today for a repair quote, which maybe I'm naively interpreting as them being the ones who will pay for the repair.

TK1215

Did you stay at the dealership the whole time or drop it off and return to pick it up?

I did not, we live so close that we dropped it off for about 3 hours and then picked it up.

Slownstddy

After looking at the damage, theres a possibility they were just inside looking at it and kicked it on accident. Even if thstawer the case, they should have come clean and admitted it. That would be a hard hit also. I definitely would fight for them to fix it. Its probably going to cost more than the tires you bought.

I agree and I'm wondering that too.

Without noticing the damage before leaving the store you will be at the mercy of the shops decision . Even then and if you had noticed it , the fact that it has nothing to do with a tire swap leaves them with a good argument that they did not do it . Something seems amiss here as those panels were definitely being pulled to remove when it broke .

Rydfree

Without noticing the damage before leaving the store you will be at the mercy of the shops decision . Even then and if you had noticed it , the fact that it has nothing to do with a tire swap leaves them with a good argument that they did not do it . Something seems amiss here as those panels were definitely being pulled to remove when it broke .

That's what I'm afraid of. I don't know anything about working on cars and always leave it up to those that do know what they're doing. The thing was driven maybe 6 times and more than half of those 300 miles were me driving it home from the dealership. No one has even gotten a chance to ride in the passenger seat yet, ugh!

CNaz

That's what I'm afraid of. I don't know anything about working on cars and always leave it up to those that do know what they're doing. The thing was driven maybe 6 times and more than half of those 300 miles were me driving it home from the dealership. No one has even gotten a chance to ride in the passenger seat yet, ugh!

Just so you know , the speedo can be calibrated by putting in the circumference of the tire using Forscan . You will need the $59 adapter to plug into the OB port and the free program but can change many other things if you want. There may even be someone close to you that already has the program and tool that would do it for you .



https://forscan.org/download.html

Does the shop have cameras in their service bays? If so, it may be worth a watch to see if anything can be seen in their video. Maybe they have already watched it and saw something on the video, and that may be why they are reaching out to the Ford dealer for a repair quote....