Ford recall 26V-581: Passenger Air Bag May Deploy Improperly
An air bag that does not deploy as intended increases the risk of injury in a crash.
Campaign facts
- NHTSA campaign
- 26V581000 (26V-581)
- Manufacturer number
- 26S65
- Filed by
- Ford Motor Company
- Report received
- September 9, 2026
- Component
- Air bags:frontal
- Vehicles potentially affected
- 7
- Model years
- 2026
- Built between
- August 2, 2026 and August 2, 2026
- Owner letters
- September 16, 2026
- Recall initiated by
- The manufacturer
- Remedy completion rate
- 28.57% (latest quarterly report)
What is wrong
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2026 Explorer vehicles. The active vent on the passenger side may not open as intended, preventing the air bag from deploying properly.
The risk
An air bag that does not deploy as intended increases the risk of injury in a crash.
Why air bag defects matter: An air bag that fails to deploy, deploys late or inflates abnormally takes away protection the occupant is relying on in a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the passenger air bag module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 16, 2026. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 26S65. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on September 14, 2026.
About the air bags
An air bag system is a chain of parts — crash sensors, a control module, wiring, the inflator and the cushion. A fault anywhere in that chain can stop a bag from deploying, deploy it when it should not, or change how it inflates.
Vehicles covered by campaign 26V-581
What to do
- Enter your VIN in NHTSA’s lookup (below) to confirm that your vehicle is included and that the repair has not already been done.
- Call a dealer for the brand and book the repair. Quote NHTSA campaign 26V-581 and the manufacturer’s number 26S65.
- If the notice tells owners not to let anyone sit in a particular seat, follow that until the repair is done.
- Safety recall repairs are carried out free of charge by the manufacturer’s dealers. If you already paid for this repair yourself, ask the manufacturer about reimbursement and keep your receipt.
Check by VIN
A campaign rarely covers every vehicle of a model year. Enter your 17-character VIN to find the recall campaigns filed for your make, model and model year. The VIN is on the driver’s side of the dashboard (visible through the windshield), on the door-jamb label, and on your registration and insurance documents.
Is a recall still open on your vehicle? Only NHTSA’s official VIN check can say whether a campaign applies to your exact vehicle and whether the repair has already been done.
Your VIN is decoded with NHTSA’s public vPIC service to identify the make, model and year. It is not stored and is not added to any page address.
The official record
This page reproduces the campaign as filed with NHTSA. The NHTSA record is authoritative — if anything here differs, follow the agency.
Open campaign 26V-581 on NHTSA.gov