A recall of 69,685 2022-2026 Range Rover, 83,620 2021-2026 Land Rover Discovery and 97,552 2020-2026 Land Rover Defender sport utility vehicles for an air bag clockspring connector that may corrode, preventing the air bag from opening in the event of an accident.
Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Land Rover) is recalling certain 2020-2026 Land Rover Defender, 2021-2026 Discovery, and 2022-2026 Range Rover vehicles. The driver’s air bag clockspring connector may corrode, which can cause the air bag not to deploy as intended.
Affected VINs should be searchable now at the NHTSA website.
Here is the relevant information from the NHTSA Recall notice:
NHTSA ID Number: 26V389000
Manufacturer: Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC
Components: AIR BAGS
Potential Number of Units Affected: 250857
Descriptive Information:
Jaguar Land Rover is conducting a voluntary safety recall campaign involving certain 2020-2026MY Land Rover Defender vehicles built at the Nitra Vehicle Assembly Plant from October 16, 2019 to May 28, 2026. XX Land Rover Defender vehicles in the United States and Federalized Territories. The basis of the recall population of vehicles was was determined through analysis of warranty claims for airbag warning lamp illumination.
Description of the defect or noncompliance:
A concern has been identified where the connector to the driver’s airbag at the clockspring may experience fretting corrosion over time. This can lead to an increased resistance in the driver’s airbag circuit, potentially resulting in the airbag failing to deploy when requested to do so.
Description of the safety risk, including crash, fire, death, injury:
An airbag which fails to deploy as-intended will increase the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
Description of the cause:
N/A
Identification of any warning that can occur:
Engineering analysis of the failure has shown that the airbag warning lamp will illuminate at least 300-400 miles prior to potential non-deployment.
Chronology
Following an increase in warranty claims related to the illumination of the airbag warning lamp, a Product Safety and Compliance Committee (PSCC) investigation was opened on 29 August 2025. Whilst it was noted that there had not been any reports of non-deployment of the airbag, a dedicated engineering team was allocated with the task of establishing the cause of the warning light and understand the impact of any issue on the performance of the airbag system.
Throughout September and October 2026, experiments were carried out both at JLR and the supplier and progress reports provided regularly to PSCC. The issue was unable to be reproduced, and returned parts were sent to the supplier for analysis.
On 07 November 2025, the PSCC was informed that oxides had been found to be present on the pins of some returned clockspring connectors, and that the investigation would focus on the cause of the oxides to establish whether it could be present on multiple vehicles, and whether it could lead to any potential detriment to the performance of the system.
From November 2025 through February 2026, the PSCC heard regular reports on the status of the investigation, including the returned parts analysis which showed varying levels of fretting corrosion.
Resistance measurements were taken of corroded parts, and rig testing was designed to understand the effect of vibrational inputs into the fretting corrosion.
Through the remainder of February and up to 27 March 2026, the vibrational rig testing was completed which showed that it was possible to induce fretting corrosion on the connectors through normal vehicle articulation. The PSCC reviewed the field reports of airbag warning light (“the data”) for all vehicle lines and concluded that further deep-dive analysis was required to understand whether there were any subsets of the population which were more susceptible than others to the issue.
Throughout April and May 2026, the PSCC regularly reviewed the data with the help of statistical experts. Vehicle- and system-level vibration-affecting characteristics were considered, and multiple analyses of the field data were conducted to establish the scope of the potentially affected population.
On 02 June 2026, the PSCC heard from the statistical experts that no discernible pattern could be identified, and whilst there had been no field events of airbag non-deployment, it was decided to refer the matter to the PSCC Decision Forum for review.
On 05 June 2026, the PSCC Decision Forum concluded that the possibility of driver’s airbag non-deployment posed a safety risk and requested that the vehicles be recalled for repair.
JLR has not received any claims or field reports of airbag non-deployment in the US.
There have been no reported accidents, injuries or fires in the US as a result of this concern.
Description of remedy program:
Vehicles will have a protective lubricant gel applied to the driver’s airbag connector terminals free of charge.
How remedy component differs from recalled component:
No parts will be replaced. The remedy is the application of a protective lubricant gel to the connector.
Identify how/when recall condition was corrected in production:
The defect has been cut off in production by the application of a protective lubricant gel to the connection pins during the assembly process.
Description of recall schedule:
Notifications to dealers will occur on June 26, 2026. Distribution of owner notification letters will occur on or before August 7, 2026.
