A recall of 79,579 Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator vehicles for driver’s seats that may recline unintentionally.
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2026-2027 Explorer and Lincoln Aviator vehicles. An unoccupied driver’s seat may recline unintentionally during certain scenarios, such as remote unlock or remote start.
Affected VINs should be searchable now at the NHTSA website.
Here is the relevant information from the NHTSA Recall notice:
NHTSA ID Number: 26V470
Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company
Components: SEATS
Potential Number of Units Affected: 79,579
Estimated percentage with defect: 100%
Descriptive Information
The driver seat motor was introduced into production on November 24, 2025 and was taken out of production on June 27, 2026.
Description of defect or noncompliance:
Customers may experience unintended and unattended driver seat reclining movement. This can occur while remotely unlocking their doors, remote starting their vehicle, approaching their vehicle in possession of their key fob, or after recalling one of the saved button-activated seat memory positions.
Description of the safety risk, including crash, fire, death, injury:
Unintended and unattended reclining of the driver’s seat without obstacle detection and/or bounce back could pose a risk of impingement or entrapment of a second-row passenger, increasing the risk of injury.
Description of the cause:
The unintended seat back movement during memory recall is caused by the recline motor incorrectly interpreting the driver seat’s position.
Identification of any warning that can occur:
None.
Chronology
On June 4, 2026, Ford’s Automotive Safety Office (ASO) reviewed an issue pertaining to unexpected reclining of the driver’s seat to Ford’s Critical Concern Review Group (CCRG) for review. CCRG reviewed a draft dealer communication that had been planned in response to reports of the driver’s seat fully reclining without driver input on certain 2026 Model Year (MY) Explorer and Aviator vehicles when the vehicle doors were unlocked.
Ford’s investigation determined that this movement was initiated by the seat’s memory recall function, which returns the seat to positions previously programmed by vehicle drivers. Although this feature is present across many Ford vehicle lines and model years, the investigation team confirmed that a change in the supplier of the seat recline motor for Aviator and Explorer vehicles, beginning in November 2025, was associated with this condition.
On June 11, 2026, the investigation team confirmed that the memory recall function cannot be initiated once the vehicle exceeds 5 KPH (3 MPH), and identified several ways in which memory recall could be initiated remotely, including unlocking or remote-starting the vehicle using a key fob or mobile app, or approaching the vehicle with a programmed key fob. The investigation team also noted that, by design, the seat motor will stall if it encounters an obstacle during movement. CCRG reviewed the stall forces in this condition.
On June 17, 2026, CCRG inspected a vehicle exhibiting this condition and determined that unattended full rearward reclining of the driver’s seat could result in the seatback contacting the second-row seat, posing a potential entrapment risk and injury hazard to second-row occupants in the vehicle while parked.
CCRG’s review confirmed this condition is present only in 2026-2027 MY Explorer and Aviator vehicles equipped with a specific combination of seat motor and control strategy.
As of June 26, 2026, Ford is aware of 133 reports from various sources related to this condition. Ford is not aware of any Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) associated with this condition.
On July 7, 2026, Ford’s Field Review Committee reviewed the concern and approved a field action.
Ford is not aware of any reports of accident or injury related to this condition.
Remedy
Description of Remedy
Remedy Type: Replace, Software OTA
Description of remedy program:
Ford is currently working to determine a remedy for this condition.
How remedy component differs from recalled component:
TBD
Description of recall schedule:
None stated.
