Seat Belt May Fail to Retract or Extend

Affected vehicles (2)

Component / system

Defect

Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2018-2022 Expedition and Lincoln Navigator vehicles. The seat belt pretensioner in the driver and/or front passenger seat may inadvertently lock the seat belt, which will not allow the belt to retract or extend.

Risk / consequence

Seat belts that do not retract or extend can fail to restrain an occupant as intended, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.

Remedy

Dealers will inspect and replace the seat belt retractors as necessary, free of charge. Interim letters, notifying owners of the safety risk, are expected to be mailed June 8, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the remedy is available, anticipated in August 2026. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 26S34. This recall replaces and expands previous NHTSA recalls 24V099 and 25V197. Vehicles previously inspected or repaired under the prior recalls will need the new repair completed.

Chronology of events

1. Jan 8, 2026

   On January 8, 2026, Ford’s Critical Concern Review Group (CCRG) initiated an investigation to evaluate inadvertent pretensioner deployments outside of the recall populations for safety recalls 24S06 (NHTSA Recall 24V099) and 25S31 (NHTSA Recall 25V197). The safety recalls addressed potentially corroded squib pins in the seat belt pretensioners, which could result in high electrical resistance or an open circuit. This condition may lead to the inadvertent deployment (IAD) of the pretensioner. When safety recalls 24S06 and 25S31 were approved, Ford had not identified a root cause for the corroded squib pins that led to pretensioner IAD.

2. February 2026

   In February 2026, CCRG observed that the IADs appeared to occur only in retractor pretensioners that used a specific combination of propellant and stabilizer. Additional investigation determined that in

3. February 2022

   February 2022, the Tier 2 supplier implemented a new micro gas generator (MGG) propellant and stabilizer combination for Expedition and Navigator pretensioners. During February and March 2026, Ford’s Restraints Engineering team conducted an extensive study to understand the behavior and properties of the legacy propellant. Based on review of available data, the team hypothesized that the original propellant may become unstable when exposed to high-temperature environments. Over time, the propellant can potentially degrade, yielding corrosive by-products and leading to corrosion of the isolated squib pin and bridgewire. This corrosion creates high resistance or an open circuit, which can trigger an IAD of the seat belt pretensioner.

4. Mar 27, 2026

   On March 27, 2026, Ford completed chemical stability testing on a first batch MGGs containing the legacy propellant. The tested units showed minimal internal corrosion and remained chemically stable.

5. Apr 23, 2026

   On April 23, 2026, Ford completed testing on a second batch of legacy-propellant MGGs that exhibited high electrical resistance suggestive of corrosion. Physical analysis confirmed internal corrosion on the bridgewire and isolated pin, validating the link between propellant degradation and electrical high- resistance.

6. May 6, 2026

   On May 6, 2026, Ford completed testing on a third batch of warranty-returned MGGs containing the newer propellant and stabilizer combination (implemented in production in early 2022). These units demonstrated significantly higher chemical stability and minimal degradation compared to the legacy design, confirming the root cause hypothesis. The recall population includes all vehicles produced with the legacy propellant and stabilizer combination and includes the population of vehicles affected by previous safety recalls 24S06 and 25S31. As of May 6, 2026, Ford is aware of two warranty claims and two field reports related to this concern for the vehicle population outside of previous recall 24S06 and 25S31 windows and were received on July 18, 2024, October 7, 2024, October 21, 2024, and September 23, 2025. Ford is aware of one injury for this condition globally that was not identified under Safety Recalls 24S06 or 25S31.

7. May 19, 2026

   On May 19, 2026, Ford’s Field Review Committee reviewed this topic and approved a field service action.

Notification schedule

Dealer notification

May 29, 2026 - Jun 05, 2026 No Dealers

Owner notification

Aug 31, 2026 - Sep 04, 2026 Phased Recall