Stellantis Recalls 1.27 Million Ram 1500 Trucks Over Rear Seat Belt Anchors, Tells Owners Not to Use Two Rear Seats

What Was Recalled?

Stellantis announced a voluntary recall of more than 1.5 million Ram 1500 pickup trucks worldwide, including an estimated 1,271,294 in the United States, covering certain 2019–2026 model year Ram 1500s. The company says an assembly error may have left either of two rear seat belt buckle anchors — the second-row center and second-row driver-side positions — improperly secured to the body of the truck. The campaign, which FCA US LLC (Stellantis’ North American subsidiary) identifies internally as 67D, also includes an estimated 156,138 vehicles in Canada, 15,088 in Mexico and 74,084 in other markets, as reported by The Dallas Express and Gray News.

Owners can check whether a specific truck is included by entering the 17-digit vehicle identification number in Mopar’s recall lookup tool or the NHTSA recall database, or through FCA customer care (contact information is listed on the Mopar recall page). FCA says it will begin notifying owners by first-class mail in August, and dealers will inspect both buckle anchors and, where necessary, properly attach them to the body structure at no cost.

What Risk Does the Recall Describe?

According to the company, in certain collisions an improperly attached anchor could reduce the seat belt system’s performance and increase the chances of injury. Some customers reported that a buckle was not attached to the floor at all. The issue does not affect the front-row seat belts.

The recall does not carry a stop-drive order, but FCA advises owners not to use the second-row center or second-row driver-side seats until a dealer inspects or repairs the truck. Other seating positions can continue to be used. Not every truck in the recall population actually has a loose anchor — the campaign covers every vehicle that may have been built with the condition, and the dealer inspection determines whether any work is needed.

Stellantis is aware of one potentially related injury and no fatalities tied to the issue, according to Reuters.

Who Can Be Affected?

• Anyone in Texas who owns or drives a 2019–2026 Ram 1500 — full-size pickups are a fixture on Texas roads, and the Ram 1500 is one of the best-selling vehicles in the state
• Families whose children ride in the second row, including children in booster or child seats that are secured using the vehicle seat belt in the affected positions
• Work crews and employers that run Ram 1500s as fleet or crew trucks and regularly carry passengers in the back seat
• Used-truck buyers, who may own a covered truck without ever having received a recall notice from the manufacturer
• Anyone already injured in a crash while riding in the second row of a covered truck, where a belt or buckle did not appear to hold

What Kind of Claim Might Apply?

Attorneys who handle Texas vehicle-defect and crash cases generally describe several paths that can apply when a safety restraint fails in a wreck:

• A products liability claim — Chapter 82 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code governs products liability actions in Texas, including claims based on a manufacturing defect — which is what an assembly error that leaves an anchor unbolted would be — as well as design defects and failures to warn.
• A crashworthiness question — lawyers who handle restraint-failure cases describe a distinction between what caused a crash and what caused the injuries: even when another driver caused the collision, a separate claim can exist against a manufacturer if a defective belt, buckle, or anchor made the injuries worse than they otherwise would have been. Sorting out those overlapping claims is fact-intensive work an attorney can evaluate.
• A claim for an injured passenger — the seats covered by this advisory are passenger seats, often occupied by children. Texas law lets an injured person seek compensation for medical bills, lost income, disfigurement, and other harms, and claims involving injured children have their own rules a lawyer can explain.
• A consumer claim — the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Chapter 17 of the Business & Commerce Code, addresses false, misleading, or deceptive acts in consumer transactions and has its own notice requirements and deadlines. Whether it fits a particular purchase is a fact question a lawyer has to look at.
• Preserving the proof — in a restraint-failure case, the truck itself is the key evidence: the buckle, the anchor, the bolt or the hole where a bolt should have been, and the crash data. Attorneys handling these cases routinely ask people who were actually hurt to preserve the vehicle before it is repaired, salvaged, or totaled out by an insurer, along with photographs, repair records, the recall notice, and medical and crash reports. A recall repair that re-secures the anchor also changes the physical evidence — someone who was already injured may want a lawyer to look at the situation first.

None of the above says that any particular person has a claim. It describes the questions Texas attorneys say people ask after a safety recall like this one, and the evidence they typically want preserved. A lawyer can review a specific situation and explain what, if anything, applies.

Why Acting Quickly Can Matter

For most Texas personal injury cases, the statute of limitations is generally two years, and Chapter 16 also contains a separate period of repose for products liability claims that runs from the date the product was sold — a point that matters for a recall population that reaches back to 2019 model year trucks. A lawyer can explain how those deadlines apply to a specific crash date and a specific truck.

The practical clock is shorter than the legal one. Wrecked trucks get repaired or scrapped, insurers close files, and the recall remedy itself — a dealer re-securing the anchor — changes the very hardware an expert would examine. Many people who were hurt choose to have a lawyer look at the situation early, while the vehicle and the records still exist. For everyone else, the manufacturer’s free VIN lookup and free dealer inspection are the immediate path the recall notice describes.

Sources

1. Mopar (FCA US) — Official recall VIN lookup tool
2. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — Recall database and VIN search
3. Reuters — Stellantis to recall 1.5 million Ram 1500 pickup trucks over seat belt issue
4. The Dallas Express — Stellantis recalls 1.5M Ram 1500 trucks, warns owners to avoid two rear seats
5. Gray News — 1.5 million Ram pickups recalled over seat belt concerns
6. Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code, Chapter 82 (Products Liability)
7. Texas Business & Commerce Code, Chapter 17 (Deceptive Trade Practices Act)
8. Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code, Chapter 16 (Limitations)