Ford has told federal regulators that 41,748 vehicles carry headlight assemblies that may contain a contaminated LED chip, enough to knock out the lighting on a full-size Expedition or a heavy-duty Super Duty pickup. No owner has been mailed a letter yet.
Which trucks and model years are on the list
The campaign record names seven model-year and model combinations under one manufacturer, Ford Motor Company. The Expedition appears for model years 2025, 2026 and 2027, while the Super Duty line appears only for 2026, split across the F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550. That spread matters because the two families have almost nothing else in common. One is a three-row family SUV; the other ranges from farm and contractor pickups to chassis-cab trucks that tow and haul for a living. The shared thread is the headlight assembly, not the platform around it. Ford has not said whether production of the affected assemblies has changed since the filing, and the record is silent on it.
The 41,748 figure is the total for the whole campaign, and the NHTSA campaign record does not break it out by model in the fields reviewed here. Any claim about how many are Expeditions and how many are Super Duty trucks would be a guess, so none is offered. Anyone comparing this filing with the neighboring recall entries in the same dataset pull should note that each campaign carries its own unit count, and this one stands alone at 41,748. Because the 2027 Expedition is on the list, some affected vehicles may be barely off the lot. The filing, logged in the NHTSA recalls dataset on September 22, 2026, carries campaign number 26V606000 and Ford’s own number, 26C43.
How a contaminated LED chip dims a headlight
NHTSA’s summary says the assemblies “may contain a contaminated LED chip,” and that the contamination can cause a loss of daytime running lights, parking lights, high beams or low beams. The language is broader than a single dead bulb. Any of the four lighting functions that run through the affected assembly can drop out, and the record does not say they fail together or in any set order.
The agency also classifies the problem as a compliance failure, noting that the vehicles do not meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, the rule that governs lamps, reflective devices and associated equipment. The text of that standard sits in 49 CFR 571.108, and it is the reason a lighting fault of this kind lands in the recall system rather than being left to warranty claims.
NHTSA states the consequence in one sentence: “A loss of exterior lighting can reduce visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.” The record flags no instruction to stop driving the vehicles, and it lists no over-the-air fix, so the repair is physical. Ford’s own remedy text does not tell owners to park the vehicles, and the campaign carries no stop-sale or do-not-drive flag, so the practical risk is a lighting function dropping out at an unpredictable moment, on an unlit road or in rain, when a driver has the least margin to react.
The supplier question and what the record leaves out
The filing names the contaminated chip but not who made it. No LED supplier, chip lot, production window or plant appears in the campaign record, and neither does a count of failures or injuries. Readers should treat any account that assigns blame to a specific component maker as unsupported by the public filing. What the record does establish is where the fault sits in the chain. The chip is buried inside a sealed headlight assembly, which means the fix cannot be a software patch or a bulb swap. The affected part is the whole lamp unit, which is why the remedy is written as replacement rather than adjustment, and why the number of parts Ford must source is tied to a population that spans several model years and two very different vehicle families. Replacement of a full lamp unit on a heavy-duty truck is also a larger job than a routine dealer visit, a point the filing leaves for Ford and its dealers to work out.
Remedy status and when owners hear something
The remedy as filed reads: “Dealers will inspect and replace the headlight assemblies, as necessary, free of charge.” The wording “as necessary” implies dealers will check each assembly first and swap only those that need it, although the record does not describe the inspection test.
Ford expects to mail owner notification letters on October 26, 2026, a date confirmed by a weekly roundup of NHTSA recalls from Vehicle Service Pros. NHTSA says the affected vehicle identification numbers will become searchable on its site beginning that same day, through the agency’s recall lookup. Until then, owners cannot confirm whether a specific truck is in the population.
Owners who want an answer sooner can call Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332 and cite recall 26C43. Because parts supply has not been described in the filing, the date a given dealer can complete the work is unknown, and the first weeks after the letters go out are the period most likely to involve waits for assemblies. Owners who bought a used Expedition or Super Duty should know that recall letters go to the registered owner of record, so a recent change of address or ownership can delay the notice, and a lookup by VIN after October 26 is the surest check.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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