Chrysler, operating as FCA US, LLC, has filed a safety recall covering 456,287 vehicles across its Ram truck and Jeep lineups over a defective trailer tow module that can knock out trailer lighting and trailer brakes simultaneously. The scope of the recall is striking: it touches nearly every current Ram pickup and cab chassis variant, plus two Jeep models, and the manufacturer’s own filing treats the entire production run as affected. For anyone who tows a boat, a camper, or a work trailer, this is not an abstract engineering problem. It is a direct threat to highway safety.
Which Vehicles Are Caught in the Recall
The federal recall, tracked under NHTSA campaign 26V059000, spans an unusually wide range of models and model years. It covers 2025 and 2026 Ram 1500, Ram 2500, and Ram 3500 trucks, including cab chassis configurations for all three. The Ram 4500 and Ram 5500 cab chassis models are also included, meaning the recall extends from consumer half-tons all the way up to commercial-grade heavy-duty trucks. On the Jeep side, the 2024 through 2026 Jeep Wagoneer S and the 2026 Jeep Cherokee round out the list, capturing both traditional body-on-frame workhorses and newer unibody SUVs that are still marketed with substantial towing capability.
That breadth matters. Ram trucks dominate the American work-truck market, and the cab chassis variants are the backbone of fleet operations for contractors, municipalities, and delivery services that depend on reliable towing day in and day out. A single defective component threaded across this many platforms suggests a shared supplier part or a common electronic architecture decision rather than a one-off assembly error. The fact that FCA’s own defect population estimate encompasses every unit produced in those model-year windows, all 456,287 of them, indicates the company found no subset of production that escaped the flawed design, leaving owners with little reassurance that their particular truck or SUV might somehow be exempt.
What the Defective Tow Module Actually Does
According to the manufacturer’s Part 573 defect report, the root cause is an improperly designed trailer tow module. In plain terms, this is the electronic box that manages communication between the towing vehicle and the trailer, routing power and signals to the trailer’s lighting and brake circuits. When it fails, the trailer’s running lights, turn signals, and brake lights can go dark. Worse, the trailer’s electric brakes can stop responding entirely, leaving the towing vehicle to shoulder the full stopping load for both itself and the trailer.
Picture a loaded Ram 3500 hauling a 12,000-pound travel trailer on an interstate. If the driver hits the brakes and the trailer’s brakes do not engage, the trailer pushes the truck forward, potentially jackknifing or rear-ending traffic if stopping distance runs out. If the trailer’s lights are also out, following drivers get no warning that the rig is slowing down or changing lanes. The combination of inoperative lighting and brake failure is not a minor inconvenience or a nuisance warning light on the dash. It creates a scenario where a collision can happen before anyone involved has time to react. This is the core safety risk that NHTSA’s filing identifies, and it applies to every single vehicle in the recall population whenever a defective module is in the towing circuit.
Aftermarket Parts Widen the Problem
The vehicle recall is only part of the story. FCA also filed a separate equipment recall, NHTSA campaign 26E006000, covering 2,871 Mopar tow trailer modules sold through service and aftermarket channels. These are replacement or add-on parts that owners or dealers may have installed independently of the factory build, including on vehicles that left the assembly line without a tow package. The same design flaw exists in these modules, which means even vehicles that were not originally equipped with the defective part at the factory could be affected if a Mopar module was added later as part of an upfit or towing upgrade.
This second recall complicates the fix. Tracking factory-installed parts through VIN records is relatively straightforward because automakers know which vehicles left the plant with which option codes. Tracking aftermarket parts that may have been installed at any dealership, fleet upfitter, or independent shop is far harder. Owners who purchased a Mopar tow module separately may not realize their vehicle falls under the recall unless they check their VIN against the federal recall lookup tool, which cross-references campaign numbers, component categories, and affected units at scale. The practical result is that some owners will likely continue towing with a defective module long after the recall is announced, simply because they never received a notification letter and do not associate an accessory part with a safety campaign.
Why a Design Flaw Hits Harder Than an Assembly Error
Most large-scale recalls involve a manufacturing defect: a bolt torqued incorrectly on a particular shift, a batch of faulty sensors from a single supplier lot, or contamination in a specific production run. Those recalls tend to affect a fraction of total production, and automakers can often identify a narrow build window where the problem occurred. This one is different. The NHTSA filing describes the trailer tow module as “improperly designed,” which means the flaw is baked into the engineering itself, not into any single production run or plant. That distinction explains why the defect rate effectively reaches every vehicle equipped with the module. There is no safe subset to carve out, and no way to assume that a later build date or different trim level escapes the risk.
A design-level defect also raises harder questions about the remedy. Replacing a bad part with an identical bad part accomplishes nothing, so FCA must either redesign the hardware, rewrite the control software, or both. The Part 573 report includes a remedy plan and notification schedule, but the effectiveness of that fix will depend on whether the replacement module uses a fundamentally revised design or merely a software patch layered on top of the same circuitry. Public filings accessed through federal data portals do not yet include independent testing of the corrective part or long-term field performance data. Until that information surfaces, owners are left trusting the same engineering and validation processes that approved the original flawed design, a situation that may erode confidence even after the recall work is completed.
Real Consequences for Owners and Resale Markets
The immediate concern is physical safety, but the financial fallout could linger. A recall of this size, touching the full Ram 1500 through 5500 lineup plus two Jeep nameplates, signals to buyers that the towing capability these trucks are marketed on may not be reliable without additional verification. Ram trucks sell on their tow ratings and on advertising that emphasizes hauling heavy trailers with confidence. When the very module that makes safe towing possible is under a safety cloud, it calls that marketing promise into question. Fleet operators who rely on uptime may hesitate to renew contracts for affected models, and individual buyers might demand steeper discounts on new or used trucks that fall within the recall window.
On the used market, a high-profile safety campaign can translate into lower trade-in values and longer days on lot for dealers, especially if buyers are not sure whether recall work has been completed. Prospective owners now routinely ask for recall histories alongside accident reports, and a defect that directly affects towing (the core reason many people buy these vehicles) can be a red flag. Sellers who can document that the trailer tow module has been replaced under the recall may be able to preserve more value, but until the revised parts prove themselves in real-world use, some shoppers will simply look elsewhere. For current owners, the most prudent course is to schedule recall service as soon as parts are available and to avoid towing anything that relies on the suspect module until the repair is complete, even if that means temporary disruption to work or travel plans.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
