Imagine you buy a used Ford Bronco. You decide to upgrade the factory subwoofer, but when you remove the trim panel to access it, you find something odd. What looks like a speaker is just a dummy with no magnet and no power. Even the amplifier is a box with a big red X drawn on the housing and an empty circuit board inside. You’d feel understandably cheated.

Honestly, most owners wouldn’t notice the “dummy” subwoofer in their Ford Bronco. But Matt Murphy isn’t a regular guy. He is a stereo technician who owns the Twisted Sounds automotive electronics shop in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. A customer brought in a 2023 Ford Bronco Outer Banks Edition complaining that “he’s lacking bass.”

Murphy decided to upgrade the stock subwoofer but was shocked. “This is a fake sub. No magnet. So it’s pretty much like a passive radiator, but for no reason.” Murphy didn’t mince words. He called it “some bulls—” and even put it right to the automaker. “Ford, that’s f—ed up.” What Murphy didn’t know was that this dummy subwoofer was standard on 2023 Broncos, and Ford even warned buyers about the delete. Read on to find out why.

MotorBiscuit’s reached out to @TeamTwistedSounds for comment. You can see Murphy’s TikTok video embedded below:

The dummy subwoofer in the 2023 Ford Bronco

Ford did install fake subwoofers in 2023 Broncos that were optioned with seven speakers. Broncos upgraded to the premium Bang & Olufsen sound system got a working subwoofer. But the rest were just like Murphy said, a passive radiator with no magnet. And don’t forget the dummy amplifier too.

What the truck is going on here? Two words: chip shortage.

The global supply chain problems caused by the COVID pandemic shutdowns gave Ford two choices: halt Bronco assembly or go ahead without subwoofers. It chose to send a letter to every customer with an outstanding Bronco order and require they acknowledge the subwoofer delete before taking delivery. They gave those customers $250 off. Then Ford marked the subwoofer delete and knocked down the MSRP on the window sticker of all Broncos destined for dealerships.

So why bother installing a dummy subwoofer? Some have argued Ford worried about failing its crash test rating if it changed the car too much. Others wonder if there was an NVH issue when the vehicles had an empty hole where the subwoofer was supposed to be.

Lewin Day at The Autopian theorized that it would have been more expensive and complex to cancel the orders with the subwoofer and amplifier suppliers—not to mention laying off the factory worker who installed the assembly. By deleting the amplifier’s chip and the subwoofer’s magnet, Ford saved most of the money the system cost. But it left the door open to retrofit these Broncos with a subwoofer later. In fact, Bronco owners have called the upgrade to a working subwoofer one of the easiest mods you can do. The wire and brackets are already in place.