Ford has been hogging the recall spotlight for what feels like eternity, but Stellantis just stepped up to steal a bit of that unglamorous shine. Ram is voluntarily recalling nearly 1.3 million pickups in the United States over a rather essential safety detail: seat belts that might not actually hold you in a crash.
The issue affects second-row occupants riding in Ram 1500 trucks built between 2019 and 2026. According to the automaker, the seat belt buckle anchors for the rear center and driver-side bench seats were not properly attached to the vehicle’s body structure on the assembly line. If you get into a collision, the truck’s frame and your rear passenger’s seat belt might decide to part ways. If you regularly haul family or crew members in the back, the practical advice for now is to force everyone onto the rear passenger side.
So far, Stellantis acknowledges one non-fatal injury potentially linked to the defect. To prevent that number from climbing, the brand is calling back 1,271,294 trucks in the US, alongside 156,138 in Canada, 15,088 in Mexico, and another 74,084 shipped overseas. Not every single vehicle called back will necessarily need a physical repair, but Ram dealers will inspect and properly anchor the hardware entirely for free.
Owner notification letters are rolling out this month. If you are eager to track your VIN on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database, you might need a little patience: the recall came directly from Stellantis on Friday and hadn’t even populated on the NHTSA tracker by Monday morning.
Prior to this massive bulletin, Stellantis was sitting on 24 recalls for the year, a modest figure when stacked against Ford’s crown-holding 63 recalls since January. Ram owners can contact customer service at 1-800-853-1403 or visit recalls.mopar.com to schedule an inspection before taking any more backseat passengers for a ride.