Ford is telling the owners of 4,653 Bronco Sport and Maverick vehicles to stop driving them entirely, not just schedule a repair, after finding a front suspension ball joint that can separate from the wheel while the vehicle is moving, according to Ford’s own advisory.

Key Points

• Affected: 2022-2026 Ford Maverick (2,357 units) and 2021-2026 Ford Bronco Sport (2,296 units), per Ford.
• The front lower control arm ball joint may have been “incorrectly installed or repaired at the factory,” leaving it only partially engaged to the steering knuckle.
• Ford’s own recall number is 26S36; NHTSA’s campaign number is 26V-340.
• Ford began notifying owners by June 5, after opening its investigation on May 12 and filing with NHTSA on May 27.

What’s Affected

Ford says the ball joint problem traces to specific production windows: Mavericks built between March 5, 2021 and March 25, 2026, and Bronco Sports built between March 11, 2020 and April 28, 2026. If the ball joint disengages while the vehicle is being driven, the wheel can lose its connection to the suspension, which Ford says creates a serious loss-of-control risk — the reason the company escalated this beyond a standard recall notice.

A normal recall typically tells owners to schedule a dealer appointment at their convenience while continuing to drive the vehicle in the meantime. Ford’s “Do Not Drive” designation is different and far more urgent: the company is telling owners of the roughly 4,600 affected vehicles not to operate them at all — not even to move them off a driveway — until a dealer has inspected or repaired the suspension.

What Owners Should Do

• Stop driving the vehicle immediately if you own an affected 2021-2026 Bronco Sport or 2022-2026 Maverick, per Ford’s advisory.
• Wait for Ford or your dealer to contact you — the company says it will arrange inspection and, if needed, free towing so owners aren’t left covering the cost of getting the vehicle to a dealership.
• Do not attempt to drive the vehicle to a dealer yourself; treat it the same as a vehicle with a broken axle.
• Check your VIN against Ford’s recall lookup or NHTSA’s database using campaign number 26V-340 if you’re unsure whether your vehicle is included.

Ford’s own advisory frames this as a narrow, production-specific defect rather than a broad design flaw affecting every Bronco Sport or Maverick on the road — only vehicles built during the identified windows are covered. Still, a “do not drive” order is one of the more serious steps an automaker can take, reserved for defects severe enough that the company isn’t willing to let owners keep driving even briefly while repairs are scheduled.