Stellantis Recalls 12,592 Ram 1500 Trucks Over Headlights That Flicker or Fail

Stellantis is recalling 12,592 of its 2026 Ram 1500 pickup trucks after finding that a headlamp wiring defect can cause the parking lamps and daytime running lights to flicker on and off, or stop working altogether. Affected vehicle identification numbers became searchable on NHTSA’s website on July 9, so owners can already check whether their truck is included, well ahead of formal notification letters that are not expected to go out until the end of the month.

What the Defect Does

The recall centers on the premium headlamp assemblies fitted to certain 2026 Ram 1500 trucks, supplied to Stellantis by Marelli North America. A wiring fault in those assemblies can cause the parking lamps and daytime running lamps to flicker intermittently or fail to illuminate at all, which puts the affected trucks out of compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, the federal rule covering lamps, reflectors and related equipment. Reduced visibility to other drivers, especially at dawn, dusk or in poor weather, raises the risk of a crash, which is why NHTSA classifies this as a safety recall rather than a cosmetic or performance issue.

Which Trucks Are Affected

Stellantis traced the defect to a specific production window. Vehicles built with the affected premium headlamp assemblies between October 29, 2025, and February 16, 2026, are included in the recall. Trucks built outside that window, or built without the premium headlamp option, are not affected. The recall is tied to a specific parts run rather than every 2026 Ram 1500 built, so two trucks that look identical on a dealer lot could have different recall status depending on when the headlamp assembly was installed on the line.

Owners do not need to wait for a mailed letter to find out whether their truck is on the list. NHTSA’s recall lookup tool at nhtsa.gov/recalls lets any owner enter a 17-digit VIN and get an immediate answer. Stellantis has said it expects to mail an interim notification letter on July 30, informing owners of the safety risk while the company finalizes the permanent repair parts and process. A second letter will follow once the final fix is ready, meaning affected owners will hear from Stellantis twice: once to flag the risk, and again once there is an appointment to book.

What Owners Should Do Now

Owners who confirm their VIN is included can expect dealers to inspect the affected headlamp assembly and replace it at no cost once the repair parts and procedure are finalized. In the meantime, drivers should pay attention to how their parking lamps and daytime running lights are behaving. According to documents Stellantis filed with NHTSA, there is no consistent warning sign that reliably predicts the failure before it happens, though some owners could notice degraded lighting performance or a warning message in the instrument cluster flagging a lighting system malfunction. Anyone who notices flickering parking lamps or daytime running lights, or a dashboard alert about the lighting system, should contact a dealer even before the recall letter arrives. The underlying defect can be diagnosed and, once parts are available, repaired ahead of the formal owner notification if needed.

Owners with questions can contact Chrysler customer service directly at 800-853-1403 and reference recall number 62D, or call the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236. Both numbers can confirm recall status and provide updates on when repair parts and a permanent fix will be available at dealerships. Owners can also sign up for free VIN-based recall alerts through NHTSA’s SaferCar app or website, which sends a notification any time a new recall is filed against a registered vehicle rather than relying solely on a mailed letter that can take weeks to arrive after a recall becomes public.

For anyone shopping the used truck market, this recall is also a reminder to run a VIN check before buying a 2026 Ram 1500. An open recall on a used vehicle transfers to the new owner along with the truck itself. A dealer or private seller is under no legal obligation in most states to disclose an open safety recall before a sale, so the burden falls on the buyer to check. NHTSA’s recall lookup tool works the same way for a used-truck VIN as it does for an owner checking their own vehicle, and the repair remains free regardless of who owns the truck when the fix becomes available.

How Stellantis Found the Problem

Internal Stellantis records filed with NHTSA lay out a several-month path from first detecting the issue to issuing the recall. The company’s Technical Safety and Regulatory Compliance organization opened an investigation into intermittent parking lamp and daytime running light behavior on certain 2026 Ram 1500 trucks with premium headlamp assemblies in mid-April. Over the following weeks, that team worked with Stellantis engineering to identify the root cause and assess how many vehicles and which customers could be affected, then reviewed field records and customer assistance calls to understand real-world impact. By mid-June, the company had confirmed a vehicle build issue tied to the premium headlamp assemblies that created a potential non-compliance with federal lighting standards, and by late June, Stellantis’ Vehicle Regulations Committee had formally determined the noncompliance existed, clearing the way for the recall filing.

That timeline, roughly three months from the first internal investigation to the recall becoming public, is fairly typical for a defect like this one: a wiring or parts-supplier issue that shows up intermittently rather than in every affected vehicle every time, which tends to take longer for engineers to isolate and confirm than a defect with a single, obvious trigger. Marelli North America, the supplier that built the affected headlamp assemblies, has not issued its own public statement on the defect, and Stellantis has not said whether other vehicle lines that use the same supplier or a similar headlamp design could face a related recall down the road.

Why a Flickering Headlight Recall Still Counts as a Safety Issue

A flickering headlight can look like a minor annoyance next to recalls involving brakes, airbags or steering, but federal crash data consistently shows that visibility problems, both a driver’s ability to see the road and other drivers’ ability to see an approaching vehicle, play a role in a meaningful share of nighttime and low-visibility crashes. Daytime running lights exist specifically to make a vehicle easier to spot in daylight conditions where headlights alone would not typically be on, and a truck with malfunctioning DRLs loses that added margin of visibility precisely when other drivers are relying on it. Parking lamps serve a related purpose when a vehicle is stopped on a roadside or in low light, marking its position for approaching traffic. A defect that can knock out both systems at once, unpredictably, is a bigger deal than the word “headlight” might suggest to an owner skimming a recall notice.

A Growing Recall Tally for Ram Trucks

This recall lands in a year that has already seen a heavy volume of safety actions across the Ram 1500 and broader Stellantis truck lineup, part of a wider pattern of large-scale recalls across the pickup truck segment in 2026. For owners, the practical takeaway does not change regardless of how many other recalls are happening across the industry: check the VIN, watch for the specific symptoms described in the recall filing, and get a dealer involved early if the lights start acting up, rather than waiting for a letter that could take weeks to show up.

Sources:

• 5th Gen Rams
• Truck Parts and Service
• NHTSA Recalls