A second-row seat belt anchor that was never actually bolted to the truck is now the subject of the biggest Ram recall of the year. Stellantis filed the report with NHTSA on July 30, 2026, and it covers 1,271,294 Ram 1500 pickups spanning eight model years, 2019 through 2026.
What NHTSA campaign 26V495 covers
The defect sits in the second-row seat belt buckle anchor. On affected trucks, the anchor may not have been properly attached to the body structure during assembly. If that anchor isn't secured, it can't do its job in a crash: a rear passenger wearing that belt may not be restrained the way the belt is designed to restrain them, and NHTSA's filing lists that as an increased injury risk.
There's no reported crash or injury tied to the defect yet. The fix is straightforward: dealers inspect the anchor and reattach it to the body structure where needed, free of charge. Chrysler's internal number for the campaign is 67D, and owner notification letters are scheduled to go out starting August 18, 2026. Owners with questions in the meantime can reach Chrysler customer service at 1-800-853-1403.
Eight model years is an unusually wide net for a single campaign. It suggests the anchor installation issue traces back to a supplier or assembly process that ran largely unchanged across two generations of production, rather than a one-off batch problem.
Where this lands on the used Ram 1500 market
The Ram 1500 is one of the highest-volume used trucks on the road, so a recall this size touches a lot of active listings at once. Here's how CarScout's August 9, 2026 snapshot breaks down across the affected years, alongside how many other NHTSA campaigns each model year already carries:
| Model year | Recalls already on file | CarScout listings (Aug 9 snapshot) | Price range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 29 | 3,932 | $3,700 to $54,505 |
| 2020 | 13 | 2,963 | $6,000 to $50,789 |
| 2021 | 14 | 3,558 | $7,300 to $100,389 |
| 2022 | 15 | 5,749 | $8,850 to $119,995 |
| 2023 | 10 | 4,671 | $12,973 to $127,503 |
| 2024 | 4 | 2,584 | $18,905 to $179,900 |
| 2025 | 6 | 4,731 | $19,999 to $95,000 |
| 2026 | 4 | 58,519 | $29,557 to $134,750 |
The 2019 truck already carries 29 separate NHTSA campaigns on file, more than any other year in this recall and roughly seven times the 2024 truck's count of 4. None of those older campaigns age off the record once fixed. A truck keeps every recall it was ever issued attached to its VIN, whether or not the individual owner ever brought it in for the repair.
How to check a specific truck before you buy
Model year alone tells you if a truck is in scope, but not whether the repair has already happened. Completion rates on large recalls like this one typically lag the notification date by months, and that gap widens further once a truck has changed hands since the original owner got their letter. A seller telling you "it's fine" isn't the same as a completed repair showing up on the VIN.
Get the VIN before any money changes hands, not after you've agreed to a price. Run it through NHTSA's own lookup or a recall lookup tool, and treat a seller's refusal to share the VIN upfront as a bigger red flag than the recall itself.
FAQ
What is NHTSA recall 26V495? It's Chrysler's July 2026 campaign covering 1,271,294 Ram 1500 trucks from model years 2019 through 2026. A second-row seat belt buckle anchor may not have been properly attached to the body structure during assembly, which can affect how well the belt restrains a rear passenger in a crash. The fix is a free dealer inspection and reattachment.
Is it safe to buy a used Ram 1500 while this recall is open? The truck drives and tows normally; the risk is specific to the second-row seat belt anchor in a crash scenario. There's no stop-sale order. Buying an affected truck is fine if the deal works, but get the VIN checked and the anchor inspected as soon as a remedy appointment is available rather than treating the recall as optional.
How do I know if my specific Ram 1500 VIN is affected? Model year alone won't tell you, since the recall spans 2019 through 2026 production. Decode the VIN through NHTSA's recall database or a free recall lookup tool before you commit to a purchase, and don't rely on a dealer's verbal assurance that the work is already done.
Shopping a used Ram 1500 and want to check a specific VIN against every open campaign, not just this one? CarScout's recall lookup tool pulls the NHTSA record for free.