Heartland Recreational Vehicles has recalled 518 fifth-wheel trailers because a fuse on the cord feeding their power seating may fail to protect the circuit during a short. The campaign is NHTSA 26V710000, and the manufacturer’s own number is 990182. Dealers will replace the wiring harness and power cord at no cost.
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The fuse sits in a seating power cord, the electrical run that powers the motorized seating in these trailers. When a short circuit develops, a fuse is supposed to open and cut power before the wire heats up. Here the filing says the cord fuse may not provide adequate circuit protection, and that inadequate protection increases the risk of a fire in a vehicle where owners sleep.
Five product lines, three model-year ranges
The affected trailers are 2024 Torque, Bighorn and Cyclone models, 2022 and 2023 Gravity models, and Road Warrior fifth wheels that have certain power seating assemblies, according to the record NHTSA publishes. NHTSA logged the report on October 27, 2026. The count of 518 is the potential number of units in the United States, so it is a ceiling set by the manufacturer rather than a confirmed number of faulty cords.
Not every unit in those lines is in scope. The wording ties the recall to trailers with specific seating assemblies, which means two owners of the same Bighorn floor plan can get different answers depending on which furniture package the factory installed. Heartland lists Bighorn and Cyclone on its own site among its fifth-wheel and toy-hauler lines, and a dealer can match a vehicle identification number to the campaign in minutes.
How a short circuit turns into a fire
The mechanism is ordinary and unforgiving, and it is the reason regulators treat circuit protection as a safety item rather than a convenience. A short circuit lets current surge far beyond what a wire is rated to carry, and the surge heats the conductor and its insulation in seconds. A fuse that works opens the circuit first. A fuse that may not provide adequate protection leaves the cord itself as the weakest link, and a cord run beneath furniture or along a seat frame is surrounded by foam, fabric and carpet.
Heartland said in the filing that the consequence is an increased risk of fire, and it chose to replace both the harness and the power cord instead of only the fuse. The remedy covers the whole feed rather than a single part. The record summarized here does not say whether any trailer has caught fire, whether any owner reported a blown or missing fuse, or how the problem was found.
A company that has been here before
Heartland, based in Elkhart, Indiana, has a recent record of electrical recalls. In March 2022 it filed recall 22V-170 on 129 Lithium, Prowler and Trail Runner trailers. A supplier had substituted a harder lug material in a 50-amp shore power inlet, which kept the lugs from being torqued to 20 inch-pounds and could allow arcing, overheating and fire. Heartland learned of that problem on March 7, 2022, when Thor Corporation notified it, and planned owner notices for May 21, 2022. The 2022 report told owners what to watch for: a loss of power to the unit or a smell of smoke near the shore power inlet, with dealers inspecting lug torque and replacing the inlet if the right torque could not be reached, free of charge. The 2026 summary offers no comparable symptoms to look for, so owners of the 518 trailers have no warning sign to rely on and only the lookup and the letter to go by.
The 2022 case and this one involve different parts: a shore power inlet then, a seat power cord now. Both turn on a small electrical component that must do its job under fault conditions, and both put the risk inside a camper rather than in an engine bay. The new campaign is roughly four times larger than the 129-unit filing, and it spans three model years rather than a few weeks of production.
Owner letters due by November 30
Heartland says owners will be notified by mail, with letters expected on November 30, 2026. That date is only the mailing target; the repair appointment comes after it. Owners who do not wait can check a vehicle identification number now at NHTSA’s recall lookup, which cautions that it may not show very recent campaigns, or call a Heartland dealer and quote 26V710000.
The timing sits in the quiet season for the industry. The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association reported on its homepage that September shipments totaled 23,230 units, and many towables spend the winter in storage. The open question is how many of the 518 owners will be reached by the mailing, since the 2022 and 2023 Gravity models in the group have had at least three seasons on the road and may have been resold. A trailer that changed hands without a registration update is the kind that misses a recall letter, which is why a self-service lookup by vehicle identification number is worth doing before November 30 arrives.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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