Great Dane has told owners of 69 new 2027 Champion dry vans not to tow them, because the plate at the bottom of the upper coupler on those trailers is the wrong part. NHTSA logged the filing, campaign 26V656000, on Oct. 6.
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The trailers are almost new, which is the unusual part of the story: model year 2027 vans left the factory with a component that should never have been installed on them.
An incorrect bottom plate in the upper coupler
The upper coupler is the steel assembly under the nose of a semi-trailer, and its centerpiece is the kingpin that drops into the fifth wheel on the tractor. The NHTSA record for 26V656000 says Great Dane found an incorrect bottom plate in that assembly. The agency’s summary of the filing says the plate may leave the kingpin protruding, so that the trailer does not couple properly, and that an improperly coupled trailer may detach from the tractor. NHTSA lists the consequence as an increased risk of a crash. The record covers 69 Champion dry vans in model year 2027 and no other model, which makes the population small even by the standards of trailer campaigns.
A kingpin that sits wrong is not something a driver can feel from the cab. A trailer can look hitched, with the landing gear raised and the air lines connected, while the jaws of the fifth wheel have not closed around the pin. That is why the filing leans on the word “may”: the failure it describes is a coupling that looks right and does not hold.
NHTSA’s own subject line for the campaign puts the instruction first: “Do Not Tow: Incorrect Plate in Coupler May Cause Trailer to Detach.” The dataset entry for the campaign flags the vehicles as do-not-drive and records no risk of fire while parked, so the hazard it describes is a trailer that separates from a moving tractor, not one that fails at the curb. It describes no crash or separation on a road.
Not the first Champion to need an upper coupler fixed
Great Dane has been here before with the same model line. In December 2024, Trucker’s News reported a recall of about 225 model year 2025 Champion dry vans in NHTSA campaign 24V922, in which some units carried hot-dipped galvanized upper couplers that lacked the required kingpin welds. NHTSA said at the time that “Missing kingpin welds may prevent the upper coupler from securely connecting the trailer.” The remedy was the same shape as the one now filed: inspect the upper coupler and replace it as needed, at no charge to the owner.
The two upper coupler defects differ in mechanism. In the 2025 vans, weld metal that should have joined the kingpin was absent; in the 2027 vans the weld is not the issue and a plate of the wrong specification went into the assembly. Both reached customers before anyone caught them, which is the common thread across the three Champion filings of the past two years.
The third had nothing to do with couplers. In Part 573 report 24V689, submitted on Sept. 13, 2024, Great Dane described 43 model year 2025 Champion dry vans built between July 9 and Aug. 19, 2024, whose rear impact guards were missing two welds between the angled attachments and the top plate. The company’s chronology shows it found the problem on Aug. 8, 2024 and confirmed on Aug. 16 that the welds were structurally necessary. Its fix was to pay branches and dealers to strip the galvanized coating, add the welds and recoat the joint with ZRC cold galvanizing spray.
Inspection first, replacement where the plate is wrong
Great Dane’s remedy for 26V656000 is to inspect the upper coupler assembly on each trailer and replace it as needed, free of charge. The record says owner letters are expected on Dec. 4, 2026, and gives Great Dane customer service as 1-877-369-3493. Because the trailers are model year 2027, some may still be at dealers, and a few may have gone to carriers in recent weeks without hauling a load.
For a fleet that took delivery, the practical effect is a parked trailer and a hole in the schedule until the work is done, because the instruction is not to tow rather than to tow with care. The filing does not say how many of the 69 have reached a customer, when the incorrect plate entered production or how it was caught, and the NHTSA page for campaign 26V656000 is where any later amendment would show up. Anyone who needs to confirm a particular trailer can search its VIN on NHTSA’s recall lookup. The date to remember is Dec. 4, 2026, when letters are expected, with the stand-down in force until a dealer has inspected the coupler.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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