To Whom It May Concern: I purchased my
1992 Ford Bronco XLT in 1996 with a little over 50,000 miles on it.
People said I was crazy for buying a used vehicle, especially a Ford
with so many miles, but I didn't care, I really liked that truck. Fast
forward to a little less than a year ago, when my girlfriend and I were
heading south on interstate 95 back to Jacksonville, Florida from
Philadelphia, PA. It was about 7:00 in the evening and the sky was
turning to dusk. We were just north of the Georgia border in South
Carolina. There was hardly any traffic on the road, just us and one
other car I was riding in the passing lane to keep from blinding the guy
with my headlights. The next few moments had to be the most frightening
of our lives. I saw the car in the right lane swerve, not sure why, I
let off the gas. My girl friend screamed that there was a big dog in the
road. It was not a dog, but rather a 200-pound buck, judging from the
size of it, that jumped right in front of the truck. There was
absolutely nothing I could do but hit it head on. Fortunately for us, my
Bronco had been lifted 4 inches and has a heavy-duty bumper in the
front, when I hit the deer it went under the driver's side. We were
doing almost 70 MPH at the time. I was able to safely pull off to the
side of the road, not sure how much damage had been done to my truck. I
got out my flashlight and could not see anything but a big mess from
where the deer had impacted under the truck. My girlfriend was still
shaking. I radioed for the Highway Patrol and they arrived about fifteen
minutes later. The state trooper asked if we were ok, than looked around
for the deer, which was nowhere to be found. He than proceeded to tell
us that had we been in a regular automobile, chances are we would not
have been having that conversation. There had been two fatalities on
that stretch of highway just a month earlier from deer. I firmly believe
that it was the ruggedness and quality of the truck that kept us from
harm. We were even able to drive the whole way home, bent frame and all.
The frame has been fixed, and I still drive my Bronco to and from work
every day even with 180,000 miles, and my girlfriend and I are now
engaged and have our whole lives ahead of us. That accident on I-95 last
year has slowly faded from our memories, but I firmly believe that we're
here today due in no small part to that truck and the quality of the
product that Ford Motor Company produces. Thank you.

This was the reply

Thank you for your message of 03/7/03 regarding your 1992 Ford Bronco.
We appreciate the time you have taken to provide us with your positive
feedback on your experience.

We are relieved to hear that no one was injured in the accident. We
strive on building quality vehicles for all of our customers. We
appreciate the time you have taken to give us the details of the
accident. This information is used by our Engineering Team to
strengthen our safety record.

We pride ourselves on becoming the world's leading consumer company for
automotive products and services and the satisfaction of our customers
is one of our highest priorities. Feedback such as yours is highly
valued by Ford Motor Company.

It is a pleasure to hear that you continue to enjoy your 1992 Ford
Bronco. It helps reaffirm our belief in the importance of exceptional
products and services. When customers like you send us positive
stories, you help reinforce our efforts to build the finest automotive
products in the industry.

You are valued as member of the Ford Family and wish you continued
satisfaction with this and future Ford purchases.

According to Ford Motor Company Chairman, Bill Ford, "A good company
delivers excellent products and services; a great one does all that and
strives to make the world a better place."

At Ford Motor Company, we consider the satisfaction of our customers as
one of our most important objectives. If you have any other inquiries
or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to
address them.

I'm glad to hear that they still acknowledge the existence of Broncos. :D

I was kind of suprised myself that they responded as fast as they did, looked like kind of a canned letter, but its better than nothing. I was hoping maybe they would put my story in a commercial or something.. ;)

At least they wrote you back...could have at least giving you a sticker or something...

now why didn't ya bug them about bringing the Bronco back? would have been a perfect opportunity .... hehehe

NO NO NO NO^^^^^^^^^^^^^Then our trucks would not be COLLECTIBLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!jk

Allcruisen :pimp :pimp :pimp :gousa

Oh yeah, nice letter and thank God you did not get hurt.

you said that couldnt find the deer sooo what happened to it? run off? spattered all over your bronco?

ya now his horse power has gone up by 1 deer :)

:???: Where did the deer go? That was the $64,000 question, when I got out and looked under the truck there were pieces of deer, what looked like the head stuck in my steering linkage, and some hid and lots of fur..The deer went right under the driver side, I probably slowed down 100 yards after I hit, I walked up and down the road for about 10 minutes until the state trooper got there but nothing, and given the fact that I was sitting on the side of the road on 95 I did not want to go to far..A side note to all of this a month later I was doing some break work and found a piece of jaw bone wedged in the front axle shaft, I wanted to save it but it was pretty torn up..I wish Ford would bring the Bronc back, but its pretty unlikely from my single experience.

your deer desintegrated (sp) that was wild.
broncos are safer then most think. mine was safer then a midsize car (buick century). i found this out from my insurance agent.

Great story. I'm just impressed that they replied at all, bein' all corporate and whatnot. Odd that they kept referring to it as your 1992 Ford Bronco, though. You know it's a Ford, they know it's a Ford. Weird. Department of Redundancy Department or somethin'.

Maybe it was one of those canned letters that has a space for insert vehicle name here...or something like that.

Dude, that's fully NOT a "canned" letter. I was thinking the exact opposite while reading it, amazed at the detail in their response. They clearly READ your letter and TOOK time to DRAFT a reply specific to your correspondence. I'm impressed.

Seriously, here's an example of a canned letter, drafted from my butt:

"Dear Valued Ford Customer,
Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding our products. We value your input and look forward to having you as a customer for years to come.

Sincerely,
Team TFI"

You're probably right Keith_L, after reading it again they did put some thought into it. I guess with the way corporate America is today and how little pride companies take in their products I was suprised.

Wow just found this story searching for something else and it makes me glad I have two Broncos with massive steel winch bumpers.

:stupid

when my g/f goes to visit her family in syracuse, about a 5 1/2 hour drive, through some serious deer crossing territory, i usually make her take the Bronco. I just feel it's one of the safest vehicles she could be in, especially now that it has the 150 lb. winch bumper in front.

:beer :beer :beer Jeremy

They were happy to get a letter that wasn't written on an attorney's letter head. Good story :thumbup

Yeah it was a pretty good story, I can still see that buck staring out me through my headlights, then ....Baaaaaammmmm...Freaked the s**t out of my wife, if I had swerved in the Bronco, we probably would have flipped and dies.

That is why I went back to Bronco's! See what happens when you drive a regular car. This was my 87 T-bird when a 17yr old hit me head on(in a 96 F-100). I stopped the front bumper with the left side of my face!! I'm glad you were ok.

http://www.superford.org/getfile.php?id=98717&toggle=fullsize&f=MY CAR (WRECKED).jpg

That's a nasty wreck man. I'm a fan of big automobiles, that's why in addition to the Bronco I bought a Crown Vic. Can't stand small cars, bottom line is they're just not safe.

Wow that was a bad pic glad you made it through it. Have to agree rather pay a little more for gas than not be able to fill up from being in an accident while driving a small car.

The later year Broncos-90's (never did any research on the earlier ones) have a 5 star rating(the best) for head on collisions. Hey, Jermey how did that TJM bumper hold up?

The TJM took a small dent underneath the side where the dear hit, but other than that it was fine. It think it was the TJM that pushed the deer under the Bronco and kept it from going up through the windsheild.

The later year Broncos-90's (never did any research on the earlier ones) have a 5 star rating(the best) for head on collisions. Hey, Jermey how did that TJM bumper hold up?

That's a nasty wreck man. I'm a fan of big automobiles, that's why in addition to the Bronco I bought a Crown Vic. Can't stand small cars, bottom line is they're just not safe.

Not getting tickets for parking in the handicap spots doesn't hurt either. :goodfinge

sweet, doesn't sound like a canned response to me. With the kind of service I've been getting at my ford dealer lately, I'm kinda supprised they responded to a letter about a usedtruck

Posted by jermil01
The TJM took a small dent underneath the side where the dear hit, but other than that it was fine. It think it was the TJM that pushed the deer under the Bronco and kept it from going up through the windsheild.
I had great experience with ARB bumpers, but they don't make them for the later Broncos. It held up better then the rest of the truck during a rollover on a steep hill(don't ask. No it wasn't 4xing) Good to hear that TJM is a good solid bumper. I believe the bumper is the saver in most accidents.

Small cars can be very good. Only the idea is to have a small car that performs well enough to be able to safely swerve, accellerate, brake, or do whatever to avoid the accident in the first place. Thats why I like my ZCar. Cut the wheel and goose it...shes gotten me out of every tight fix so far. Although at the same time, getting sucked into something unavoidable wouldnt be pretty. But for me..unavoidable would be an F350 running up my tailpipe while I'm stopped at a red light. I see something in front of me.. bet your ass I'm gonna dance to miss it.

Figured I'd provide a half-assed argument in support of the small car. :thumbup

Either way.. the Bronco is tops when it comes to safety. :chili:

One of my buddies in High School was killed in an accident with a horse, he was in a small car. It was foggy and the horse had wandered out on Hwy 74 and there was nothing he could do. It cut right through the passenger compartment.

dc

damn. impressive. thats why im having a friend of mine make me a full 1/4 plate steel bumper. i've already taken out an old stump in osceola with the stocker, dont think its gonna hold up to a deer now. but def. doesnt sound like a canned letter

good story man, and glad that you all are ok. yeha i have been involved in two wrecks in my 95 bronco, and i fortuntely hadnt fixed it from the first time and the thing still drives straight as and arrow, and i can allso vouch for the quality of pro comp lights and light bar my four 130wts, and bar were involved in both wrecks and all four lights still worked, and only one mount on the bar is a little bent but still functional.

I also creamed a large deer at about 70mph with three passengers unbuckled. WHAM! Don't ask me to explain in detail, but there was no avoiding it.

My Bronco was stock without a lift. It took out my bumper, grill and radiator but everyone inside was absolutely okay. I didn't lose any control. At that speed, you actually could hardly feel its impact.

I know if we had been in a car it would have swept the deer's legs out from under it and it would have gone straight through the windshield. In the Bronco it hit straight on, killing it instantly I'm sure.

A good theory is .. When you slam on your brakes you do a nose dive thus making it more likely to have the deer come up over the hood and into the windshield .. So if you slam on the throttle you'll get the nose up and go over the deer .. in theory .. :goodfinge

If I hit a deer with my Bronco I don't think it would have a prayer in walking away and, unless it jumps quite high, it'll never go over the hood :P .. I'm 5'10" and my hood is above my shoulders hehe ..

now why didn't ya bug them about bringing the Bronco back? would have been a perfect opportunity .... hehehe


Amen to that!! And when they bring it back, DONT put it on an Escape platform as they have talked about!!! And, it doesnt need to look like a miniature Hummer either.

Great story by the way, I certainly have a sense of safety when I drive my beast! :beer

It's a canned response to an extent. Some of the paragraphs are generic and will be in every letter they write, while some are pertinent to your topic. They have a small customer relationship dept. that answers letters and inqiries. It's the same dept. that does the build sheets for older vehicles. I've sent away for around 9 of them so far and have gotten them from four different customer reps. They all start off with the same three paragraphs regardless of who wrote them or did the research. It's their job to pat you on the back in hopes that you remain Ford loyal in the future.

With all the talk about bring the Bronco back i saw this while cruising around the net. And good to hear your alright.
http://www.conceptcarz.com/folder/vehicle.asp?car_id=7773&autoShowID=47&vehicleTypeID=0

I've seen the '04 Bronco... Personally, i like it, but there could be some changes done.. First off, the doors. What the hell is all that extra crap? Wind slots??? and the shape. thats like a Hummer Coupe or something. No. Not Bronco. Plus the top doesnt even look like it comes off. As for the windows on the doors... those are cool cuz they are huge. just my $0.02 -Bryan :twak

You're right, and that's exatly what I did. When the deer came across 95 it was in mid leap. I nailed the gas and my wife freaked out screaming what are you doing. Later I explained to her what would have happened had I hit the brakes, which is the normal reaction.

A good theory is .. When you slam on your brakes you do a nose dive thus making it more likely to have the deer come up over the hood and into the windshield .. So if you slam on the throttle you'll get the nose up and go over the deer .. in theory .. :goodfinge

If I hit a deer with my Bronco I don't think it would have a prayer in walking away and, unless it jumps quite high, it'll never go over the hood :P .. I'm 5'10" and my hood is above my shoulders hehe ..

You're right, and that's exatly what I did. When the deer came across 95 it was in mid leap. I nailed the gas and my wife freaked out screaming what are you doing. Later I explained to her what would have happened had I hit the brakes, which is the normal reaction.


You should have leaned out the window and busted a few caps in true Philly fashion :toothless