Skip to main content

OJ Simpson haunted Ford while he was alive. And now, even from beyond the grave, the Blue Oval can’t seem to be rid of parallels with the infamous celebrity.

Ford announced a major recall to its latest Bronco Sport on April 11th, 2024. A total of 22,270 of the retro SUVs, alongside 20,382 Ford Escapes, may suffer from cracked fuel injectors. Motor failure and even fuel leaks are serious business. So Ford has engineered a fix and is asking Bronco owners to bring their SUVs in for a repair.

If you own a Bronco and want to know whether it’s affected by the recall, you can call your local dealership or the Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236.

But that’s not all. On Apil 11th, OJ Simpson’s family announced that the retired Buffalo Bills running back had died of cancer. Simpson was 76.

If you have been living under a rock, you might not know that after a successful football career OJ Simpson got in some trouble. In 1994, Simpson’s ex wife and her friend, Ron Goldman, were found stabbed to death. The police put out a warrant for Simpson, but on the day he had agreed to turn himself in, he took them on a low-speed pursuit in Al Cowling’s 1993 Ford Bronco instead.

Football player OJ Simpson in the courtroom
OJ Simpson on trial | Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images

It might seem like an odd choice of car for a police pursuit. But the event was less chase and more hostage crisis. Cowlings, one of Simpson’s former teammates, owned and drove the Bronco. He reported Simpson was in the back seat with a gun to his own head, threatening suicide if Cowling didn’t drive him home. So despite swarms of police, Cowlings slowly drove him home. There, Simpson was subsequently arrested. He was later acquitted of the murder charges.

This was not the sort of publicity Ford wanted. Ninety-five million people watched helicopter footage of the bizarre, slow chase on TV. Bronco sales jumped by 7,000 units in 1994. To be blunt, you can’t drive a white Ford Bronco today without someone making a comment. There is even speculation that the bad press was why Ford cancelled the SUV line for a while.

Ford obviously dismissed its link to Simpson. But it seems the football star had one more play to run, news of his death coming hours after Ford’s recall alert, and reminding everyone that the Bronco and the Juice go hand in hand.

You can watch CNN’s original footage of the chase here:

Related Here’s What Happened to O.J. Simpson’s Ford Bronco

Here’s What Happened to O.J. Simpson’s Ford Bronco

Best in News
Avatar photo
Staff Writer

Henry Cesari

Henry Cesari joined MotorBiscuit in 2021 and brings his deep interest in vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles to the site. Having restored his first classic car at just 16 years old, Henry has wrenched on everything from overland campers to Japanese motorcycles and even pre-war Bugattis. Henry is also an avid attendee at local car shows and genuinely enjoys connecting with fellow auto enthusiasts.

Henry earned a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and English from the University of Vermont. He has since incorporated his love of the written word with his admiration of classic cars. While Henry is interested in vintage cars, he believes the golden age of cars is yet to come. He is confident journalists will play an important role in this revolution by exposing the industry as it is now and envisioning its possible future.