Stellantis has recalled 8,329 model-year 2026 Ram 2500 pickups because a fault inside the steering column module can switch off electronic stability control while the truck is being driven. Nothing warns the driver beforehand. The trucks were built between Sept. 13 and Nov. 15, 2025, and the dealer fix is a newly designed module installed free.
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FCA U.S., the Stellantis unit that files the paperwork for Ram, reported the problem to federal regulators as NHTSA campaign 26V651 and gave it the internal recall number 90D. Affected vehicle identification numbers have been searchable on the agency’s website since Oct. 13, 2026.
A steering column module that resets without notice
The NHTSA recall record covers 8,329 Ram 2500 trucks and says they “may be equipped with steering column control modules that can cause a loss of electronic stability control.” The agency classifies the component under electronic stability control and states that the trucks therefore fail to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 126, the stability control rule found at 49 CFR 571.126. Its consequence statement is short: a loss of stability control increases the risk of a crash.
The mechanism matters because stability control is a safety net that a driver never sees working until it is needed. Writing for autoevolution, Mircea Panait described the defect as a steering column module that can switch the system off “without giving the driver any warning,” and noted that the ESC warning light comes on only after the module resets. By then the intervention a driver might have counted on during a swerve or a slide is already gone.
Panait put the stakes in his own words: “Losing ESC when intervention is relied upon is the perfect recipe for disaster.”
Who is covered: one model year and a nine-week build window
The campaign is narrow in model terms. It names only the 2026 Ram 2500, the heavy-duty pickup that competes with the Ford F-250, Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and GMC Sierra 2500, and only units assembled in a window running from Sept. 13 to Nov. 15, 2025, for the United States market. That is about nine weeks of production, which is how 8,329 trucks accumulated. Later builds and other Ram heavy-duty models are not part of the count. For a buyer or a fleet manager, the build date printed on the door-jamb label is therefore the first clue, and the VIN check is the confirmation, since the federal database ties each affected number to the campaign directly.
The federal record also says the filing expands on an earlier NHTSA recall, 26V244. The summary does not spell out what that first campaign addressed, so the link between the two is worth confirming on the agency’s site before assuming a truck cleared in the earlier action is safe from this one. Owners with questions can reach FCA customer service at 1-800-853-1403, and the earlier campaign number is worth having on hand when they call.
The same recall also appears in an Oct. 19 roundup of NHTSA recalls carried by WBIW, where it sits beside a Ford F-150 seat recall and a handful of bus and ambulance campaigns. Stability control is a component the federal standard requires to remain active whenever the truck is being driven, which is the heart of the noncompliance finding. A system that can quietly drop out and return only after a reset does not meet that expectation, whatever the truck’s other safety equipment does, and that gap between the rule and the hardware is what the redesigned module is meant to close.
A redesigned module, with letters due Nov. 24 at the earliest
According to the autoevolution account, Stellantis North America began investigating the condition in July 2026 and kept reviewing field records and customer assistance records through September. At the end of that month its Vehicle Regulations Committee reviewed the findings, and the Technical Safety and Regulatory Compliance group identified the noncompliance condition. Nationwide Ram dealers have already been notified, so a service department can look up a truck even though the owner has not yet received anything in the mail. The sequence runs from a July investigation to a September review to an October filing.
The repair is not a software patch. Dealers will replace the steering column control module, free of charge, with a newly designed unit instead of reflashing the existing one. Owner notification letters are scheduled for Nov. 24, 2026, at the earliest, which leaves a gap of roughly a month between the public filing and the first mailing. The content of those letters follows the rules in 49 CFR part 577.
Anyone who owns a 2026 Ram 2500 can check a VIN in the NHTSA recall lookup now rather than wait for the letter. The recall record asks for nothing more of owners than scheduling the repair once the new module is available, and neither the federal summary nor the autoevolution report mentions injuries or crashes linked to the fault.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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