Wheels That Could Separate, Seats That Could Fail And Dashboards That Go Blank. Three Recalls Every Driver Should Know About

Three separate safety recalls landed in the past week covering Tesla, Ford and Stellantis. One involves wheels that could detach while driving. Another involves front seats that may not hold you in place during a crash. The third involves instrument panels that can go completely blank, hiding every warning light on the dashboard. Between them, they affect close to 200,000 vehicles on American roads.

If you own a Cybertruck, a Ford Ranger, a Ford Bronco, a Jeep Wagoneer S or a Dodge Charger Daytona, keep reading. If you are not sure whether your car has an open recall, there is a free way to check at the end of this article.

Tesla Cybertruck: Brake Rotor Cracking And Wheel Stud Separation

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened recall campaign 26V255 covering 173 Tesla Cybertrucks from the 2024, 2025 and 2026 model years. The affected vehicles were manufactured between 21 March 2024 and 25 November 2025 and were fitted with 18-inch steel wheels either in production or in service.

The defect is in the brake rotor. Under rough road conditions and cornering, the stud holes in the rotor can develop cracks. If those cracks spread with continued driving, a wheel stud could eventually separate from the wheel hub. If enough studs fail, the wheel comes off. The safety risk described in the recall filing is loss of vehicle controllability and increased risk of a collision.

The number of affected vehicles is small. Tesla says it is aware of only one confirmed case of rotor cracking in the field and three warranty claims that could be connected to the issue. No crashes, injuries or fatalities have been reported. But the severity of the potential failure is about as serious as it gets. A wheel separating from a vehicle at highway speed is a catastrophic event, and it is the kind of defect where one confirmed case is enough to trigger a recall.

Tesla identified the root cause as a change management error. The company had observed rotor cracking during pre-production testing and developed improvements, but those improvements were not incorporated when production of the affected vehicles began.

The fix is a full replacement of the front and rear brake rotors, hubs and lug nuts with more durable components, carried out at no cost to owners. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on 20 June 2026.

This is not the first Cybertruck recall. The truck has been subject to multiple safety campaigns since deliveries began, covering issues from accelerator pedals to windshield wipers to drive inverters. For a vehicle that has sold in relatively low volumes, the recall frequency is notable.

Ford Ranger And Bronco: Seat Bolt That Can Loosen Or Fall Out

Ford is recalling approximately 179,000 vehicles in the United States over a defect in the front seat frame. The recall covers 117,443 Ford Rangers and 62,255 Ford Broncos from the 2024 and 2026 model years.

The problem is a pivot bolt in the front seat assembly. The bolt can work itself loose over time or fall out entirely. If it does, the seat may not hold the occupant in place during a collision. In a frontal impact, a seat that moves or collapses instead of holding firm dramatically increases the risk of injury. Seat integrity is one of the most fundamental passive safety requirements in any vehicle, and a bolt that can fall out of the seat frame undermines it completely.

Ford traced the issue to the manufacturing process at the seat supplier. The torque check on the bolt was performed before a thread adhesive patch had fully cured, which meant the adhesive could not do its job of keeping the bolt secure over time. The bolt passed inspection at the factory but was not properly locked in place for the life of the vehicle.

Ford says it is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the defect. Dealers will inspect and replace the pivot links and bolts as necessary at no charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed from 11 May 2026.

At 179,000 vehicles, this is the largest of the three recalls by a significant margin. If you own a 2024 or 2026 Ranger or Bronco in the US, checking your VIN against the NHTSA database is worth doing today.

Jeep Wagoneer S And Dodge Charger Daytona: Instrument Panel Goes Blank

Stellantis is recalling 20,271 of its new electric vehicles across two models: approximately 11,743 Jeep Wagoneer S units and 8,528 Dodge Charger Daytona units from the 2024 and 2025 model years.

The defect is a software error that can cause the instrument panel cluster to fail entirely. When the display goes blank, the driver loses visibility of every warning indicator on the dashboard. That includes brake system warnings, electronic stability control alerts, tyre pressure monitoring, gear selection and the speedometer. Stellantis confirmed that affected vehicles may fail to comply with multiple Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards because the required warning telltales are no longer visible to the driver.

The issue is not that the underlying systems stop working. The brakes, stability control and tyre pressure sensors continue to function. But if the dashboard cannot display warnings, the driver has no way of knowing when something has gone wrong. A brake fault warning that nobody sees is functionally the same as no warning at all.

Stellantis began investigating the issue in March 2026 after reports of blank displays from owners. By April, it confirmed the noncompliance. The fix is a free software update that will be applied at dealerships. Owner notification letters are expected from 21 May 2026. VINs involved in the recall became searchable on the NHTSA website from 30 April 2026.

For the Wagoneer S and Charger Daytona, both of which are recent launches and central to Stellantis’s electric vehicle strategy, a recall affecting the dashboard of every vehicle produced so far is not the start anyone at the company would have wanted.

How To Check If Your Vehicle Is Affected

If you own any of the vehicles mentioned above, or if you want to check whether your car has any open recall, the NHTSA provides a free VIN lookup tool at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Enter your 17-character Vehicle Identification Number and the system will show every open recall associated with your vehicle, along with details of the defect and the remedy.

Your VIN is printed on a plate visible through the bottom of the windshield on the driver’s side. It is also on your registration document, your insurance card and usually on a sticker inside the driver’s door frame.

Recall repairs are always free. Manufacturers are legally required to fix the defect at no cost to the owner regardless of whether the vehicle is still under warranty. You do not need to wait for the notification letter. If your VIN shows an open recall and the remedy is available, you can contact your dealer and schedule the repair immediately.

If you are buying a used vehicle, running the VIN through the NHTSA tool before you hand over any money is one of the simplest checks you can do. Open recalls do not expire, and a vehicle with an unresolved safety recall is a vehicle with a known defect that was serious enough for the federal government to require a fix.

Sources:

• NHTSA, Recall Campaign 26V255, Tesla Cybertruck brake rotor stud separation
• NHTSA, Recall Lookup Tool
• Kelley Blue Book, Tesla Recalls Cybertruck Because Wheels May Fall Off
• Kelley Blue Book, Ford Recalls Bronco, Ranger Over Front Seat Bolt
• Autoblog, Jeep Wagoneer S and Dodge Charger Daytona EVs Recalled Over Dash Screens That Can Go Blank