Up shift and Accelerate when slowing in 4L

SocalBonanza

Apr 13, 2026

Yesterday at 4:33 am

Hello,
I was not sure where to post this. If there is a better place, please let me know.

Last week I was at EJS and my 24 WildTrak consistently did something it had never done before, and it was nearly catastrophic.

Just as I lift off the accelerator, and move my foot to the brake, and just start to brake, the truck seemed to upshift and rev up, accelerating quite a bit considering it was in 4L. This was a huge problem when it happened just as I was going down steep drops and ledges. Eventually, I figured it out and just stopped before any ledge and then inched forward waiting for the truck to buck forward trying to hurt us both.

I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow for another issue, but plan to ask them about this. I expect they will say something like, Unable to replicate.

But I wondered two things:

Has this happened to anyone else??? (If so, did you fix it?)

And,

Does anyone thing the Performance Tune by Ford might fix any part of that? Since the Performance tune is supposed to change throttle response, I thought perhaps, maybe...

Thoughts?

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Yesterday at 4:41 pm

Yeah, that annoying surge while tranny's downshifting in 4L is a known thing. Here's video that includes this issue starting at 9:10min.

Cheers

SocalBonanza

Yesterday at 5:26 pm

Kenneth
Yeah, that annoying surge while tranny's downshifting in 4L is a known thing. Here's video that includes this issue starting at 9:10min.

Cheers

Thank you!!!

That same guy had the problem "fixed" but it turned out, it was not fixed. In his 3 year video he says it is still happening.

3 Year Review of the 2022 Ford Bronco Badlands

YouTube
Creve'

He mentions GooseTuned. I might look into them. That surge scared the heck out of me on 7 Mile Rim last week...

Yesterday at 6:49 pm

Right, my WildTrak does this too. Probably not as bad as Justin's original example, but there's usually a surge as we slow in 4L. Had it checked at our dealership and they said it was performing as spec.

Since I know this will happen I'm always 2-footing our Bronco while slowing in 4L so I can control that surge in those <10mph 4L creeps.

Cheers

Yesterday at 7:24 pm

My Badlands has always done this. I find that while in low range and letting the vehicle slow down under compression only, it happens and at first it was very unnerving. As explained to me this is when we need to take advantage of utilizing the manual option of the transmission and let us decide on when we want to shift.

Bluestreak57

Yesterday at 11:20 pm

TK1215
My Badlands has always done this. I find that while in low range and letting the vehicle slow down under compression only, it happens and at first it was very unnerving. As explained to me this is when we need to take advantage of utilizing the manual option of the transmission and let us decide on when we want to shift.

I have travelled 100s of miles in 4L, and do not remember this ever happening. Maybe I just have not noticed. But after seeing all this, I went out, put it in 4L in Manual, accelerated to M3, slowed down, and shifted to M2. And... there it went and accelerated quite a bit. I tried that several times, and the surge happened every time.

What I did not try yet, was putting it into 4L by using the Rock Crawl GOAT mode. GOAT modes are supposed to change throttle response. Here's maybe hoping...

TK1215

Today at 12:07 am

SocalBonanza
I have travelled 100s of miles in 4L, and do not remember this ever happening. Maybe I just have not noticed. But after seeing all this, I went out, put it in 4L in Manual, accelerated to M3, slowed down, and shifted to M2. And... there is went accelerated quite a bit. I tried that several times, and the surge happened every time.

What I did not try yet, was putting it into 4L by using the Rock Crawl GOAT mode. GOAT modes are supposed to change throttle response. Here's maybe hoping...

Yeah, in our '23 WildTrak it doesn't seem to matter in auto or manual, in a GOAT mode or not, downshifting in 4L 3rd to 2nd, 2nd to 1st - It's gonna do a surge..

Cheers

SocalBonanza

Today at 1:58 am

Is this a V6 thing? I don’t think this has ever happened to me.

BN 1100, Desert Sand Everglades. Reservation 7/30/20. ordered 1/22/21, reordered 10/15/21 dropped tow and hard top, reordered 3/9/22 changed to Everglades. production date 9/7/22 rescheduled 9/14/22 completed 9/26/22, shipped 10/7/22, arrived 10/31/22, delivered 11/03/22

Today at 3:36 am

Kenneth
Yeah, in our '23 WildTrak it doesn't seem to matter in auto or manual, in a GOAT mode or not, downshifting in 4L 3rd to 2nd, 2nd to 1st - It's gonna do a surge..

Cheers

It might be worth it to me to have Ford do the Performance Tune to see if it fixes this. It IS good to know there is a work around. Stop way before, and then ease up to the obstacle...

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