Week in Off-Road: Bronco fender flares, F-150 re-repairs, high country opens

Ford's 26V-403 was filed with NHTSA at the end of June and covers 2022 to 2026 Broncos on the U725 platform. The fender flares may not be properly secured and can detach from the vehicle. Dealers will inspect and repair or replace the flares as necessary. Interim letters were expected in August with the remedy anticipated late that month. It is not a dramatic defect, but a flare coming off at speed is a hazard for whoever is behind you, and flares are also the first thing a trail rubs against, so it is worth knowing whether yours are on the list.

Also filed at the end of June was 26V-402, a Ford campaign that reaches 2021 F-150s on the Raptor platform among other models. And earlier in the month, 26V-373 and 26V-375 were re-repair campaigns for 2018 to 2020 F-150s whose earlier recall fixes were done incorrectly. The desk's note on those is that a recall being closed on your record does not mean the work was done right; if you get a second letter for the same issue, it is not a mistake.

From Stellantis, 26V-224 covers 2026 Wrangler JL vehicles where the child seat tether welds on the second-row right-side seat frame may be insufficient. Dealers will replace the seat frame. Letters went out at the end of May. And 26V-363, the power steering pump wiring campaign on 2021 to 2025 Wrangler and Gladiator with its park-outside advice, was filed in early June with letters expected in July.

Toyota's 26V-282 on the 2026 4Runner N280 platform is a label campaign, where the load carrying capacity modification label shows the wrong figure and a corrected one will be mailed. Load ratings are exactly the kind of number this site does not print, and this is a reminder of why: the number on the sticker is the one that counts, and even that can be wrong. Use the corrected label and your manual.

Maintenance week was about the beginning of the season for readers in the north. The UTV oil interval is 100 hours or 12 months, and the desk's point was that the 12 months matters for a machine that sat over winter with last autumn's oil in it. The dirt bike file is at 15 hours, and a bike that came out of storage should have its oil and its 3-hour chain check done before the first ride. The storing a machine for winter piece was re-run in reverse as a bringing it out of storage checklist.

The upgrade desk covered lighting, with the Baja Designs and KC options in the parts database for the Bronco and Wrangler JL, the Rigid chase light for UTVs riding in dust, and the Baja Designs XL Pro for dirt bikes. It also ran the Rugged Radios GMR45 kit as a group-riding tool, and the what to carry in a trail kit explainer alongside it.

The trails desk marked the opening of the Rockies. High country opens late June and closes with the first heavy snow, so the Alpine Loop, Rampart Range, Pipestone and the St. Anthony dunes in Idaho all came onto the weekend guides. Snow lingers on the high shelf roads well into July in many years; confirm road status with the managing agency before you go and do not rely on a passable lower section meaning a passable pass.

The desk also covered Alaska's short season at the Knik River Public Use Area, and reminded Midwest readers that spring thaw closures at places like Iron Range and the Wayne National Forest trails lift on the agency's schedule, not the calendar's. Check before you tow.

The desk also answered a run of reader questions on the Colorado ZR2. The open campaigns on that platform in our file are mostly minor, with 26V-114 being a radio reset so the electronic owner's manual downloads, but 24V-237 on 2023 trucks, where front wheel hub bolts may have been over-tightened during assembly, is the one to confirm is closed on a used purchase. Over-tightened is as much a fastener failure as loose.

Upcoming events are still some way off. The Sand Sports Super Show in Costa Mesa is listed for mid-September and Overland Expo East in Virginia for mid-October. Check the organizer for confirmed dates. Next week the safety desk follows the 26V-363 letters and the maintenance desk turns to fasteners.