NHTSA campaign number
26V121000
Lighting issue — affecting 1 model year across Ford.
- Issued
- Manufacturer
- Ford Motor Company
- Model years
- 2025
- System
- Exterior lighting
Elevated severity
This campaign addresses a defect NHTSA classifies as carrying elevated crash or injury risk.
What the defect is
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2025-2026 Explorer vehicles. The Dynamic Bending Light (DBL) system software may cause the passenger-side headlight to turn in the wrong direction when driving through curves in the road. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108, " Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."
Why it matters
A headlight that turns incorrectly can result in increased glare to other road users, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
The headlight control module software will be updated by a dealer, or through an over-the-air (OTA) update, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 23, 2026. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 26C12. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on March 5, 2026.
What this page does not include
NHTSA's public recall feed does not supply an affected-population count, the manufacturer's own campaign number, owner-notification dates or a defect chronology for this campaign. Rather than estimate them, we omit them. Confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected — and whether the repair has already been done — using its VIN.
Check a VINVehicles affected by this campaign
1 model year in our index. Coverage reflects the vehicles VerifyTheVehicle tracks, which may be narrower than the full campaign population.