The federal government is launching a probe of 1.2 million Teslas for potential suspension failures. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Ford CEO Jim Farley told employees in a town hall that the automaker is preparing for the possibility of Chinese automakers entering the US market in the next five to ten years. More at Automotive World.
+ CEO Elon Musk rejected as “fake news” a Wall Street Journal report claiming Tesla is considering selling or spinning off its China business for a potential merger with SpaceX. More at Yahoo! Finance.
+ New data shows that the state of California has registered more gas/electric hybrid vehicles than EVs in the first half of 2026, with the Toyota Camry leading the hybrid charge. More at Car and Driver.
+ IndyCar veterans Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, and Dario Franchitti have joined the strategic ownership group of Legacy Motor Club, the NASCAR Cup team co-owned by Jimmie Johnson. More at Racer.
+ Stellantis is recalling more than 1.27 million Ram 1500 pickups in the United States because improperly attached rear seat belt anchors could increase the risk of injury in a crash. More at Autoweek.
+ Toyota is expected to post a fifth straight decline in quarterly operating profit this week due to falling sales as investors gauge the impact of last week’s earthquake in Japan. More at Market Screener.
+ General Motors reports it plans to launch a new, more integrated artificial intelligence assistant later this year that will better understand customers, vehicles, and driving habits. More at CBT News.
+ A 1951 Series 62 convertible custom-built by Cadillac for Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain will be featured at the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas auction on September 10-12. More at Old Cars.
+ The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is launching a preliminary investigation of 1.2 million Teslas for potential front suspension failures. More at Autoblog.
+ Haas Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman has reaffirmed his commitment to the Ferrari driver program, dismissing the prospect of a switch to Aston Martin in the near future. More at Motorsport.com.
Photo courtesy of Tesla.
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Poor Stellantis, 1.5 million or more 2019–2026 model year Ram 1500 pickup trucks manufactured with second-row SEAT BELT anchors that were “not properly” attached. Evidently the Ram 2500 & 3500 use a completely separate, heavy-duty chassis built on another line, so they did not receive these faulty SEAT BELT installations. The official NHTSA Part 573 SAFETY Recall Report has not been publicly released for this SAFETY defect yet.
Surprise! NHTSA opens Preliminary Evaluation (PE26006) probing over 1.2 million Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for front suspension lower lateral link detachment FAILURES, eh? A Preliminary Evaluation (PE) is NHTSA’s first formal stage of an official SAFETY defect investigation. ODI reviews Telsa owner complaints made to 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236, the active toll-free Vehicle Safety Hotline), requests crash and technical data from the manufacturer, then policy of the day decides if Tesla is telling the truth or if a wider SAFETY defect trend exists and warrants an upgrade to the dreaded EA, known as a NHTSA “Engineering” Analysis…
In case anyone is keeping score, NHTSA has opened only six new SAFETY defect PE’s and 2 new SAFETY defect EA investigations so far in the first 7 months of 2026.
NHTSA’s high water mark SAFETY defect investigation record was set back in 2011, when ODI opened 61 new PE’s and 20 EA investigations in a single year…
According to Google, during the time frame between 1997 and 2005, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an historical average of approximately 64 Preliminary Evaluations (PEs) and 20 Engineering Analyses (EAs) annually. Following the enactment of the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act in 2000, AKA Ford/Firestone, the agency expanded capacity, conducting a steady average of 70 PEs and 30 EAs per year.
Those historical context numbers highlight an astonishing 88% collapse in active SAFETY defect investigations- the agency opens only a tiny fraction of cases now than it handled back then.
Conclusion: Post-modern NHTSA transitioned from an active SAFETY regulator to a passive observer…
According to Google, ODI operated with 59 full-time equivalent (FTE) federal employees back in 2005, compared to 90 employees in 2025, not including contractors. ODI had 15 Senior Executive Service (SES) positions in 2005, compared to 24 SES slots currently. The annual enacted budget for ODI grew from $10.23 million in 2005 to an estimated $40.00 million for FY2026, and ODI will try to spend every penny by midnight on September 30!
PE24-001 from 2024 is the oldest open PE at ODI currently, the intermittent loss of braking performance, specifically software blended brakes on 2023 Fisker Ocean vehicles, AKA as our Type 1 Decel Fail.
The oldest active Engineering Analysis currently on ODI’s docket is EA22-002 open in 2022, focused on Tesla’s Autopilot ADAS and unexpected braking events (“phantom braking”), AKA known as our Type 2 Decel Error…
This retarded Ram 1500 seatbelt SAFETY defect recall was triggered because second-row seat belt buckle anchors were completely missed or insufficiently fastened to the truck’s floor/chassis structure during assembly. Some owners even reported the buckle hardware was entirely detached from the floor. According to FCA/Stellantis’s recall filings, their software QC tracking system on the line FAILED to log whether any bolts were actually ever tightened. For years and years, workers either skipped the step, or the bolts were cross-threaded/only partially tightened by hand, and quality FAILED to flag the errors. The rear seats completely cover these brackets once installed, so the missing or loose bolts are completely invisible…
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2026/RCLRPT-26V495-1973.pdf
The reason this recall covers 1,526,604 or more vehicles globally is because neither the NHTSA, ODI nor Stellantis has a clue which specific trucks have this SAFETY defect, could be 0.05% or 99.0%. Of course the loophole-lawyering lawyers running the show claim there are zero reported fatalities and only one potential injury linked to this man-made seatbelt anchor SAFETY defect…
Stellantis splits Ram 1500 production between two plants:
1. Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) is the primary plant for the current-generation Ram 1500 (DT platform). The bulk of the 1.5 million recalled trucks came out of this facility.
2. Warren Truck Assembly Plant (WTAP) manufactured the Ram 1500 Classic (DS platform).
Stellantis claims a software glitch was coded into the network used by both Michigan plants, allowing unbolted second row seat belt buckle anchors to slip past quality control on both assembly lines simultaneously for years…
The rear passengers in a Ram 1500 have NO frontal airbags protecting them. They only have the side curtain airbags dropping down from the ceiling side glass. There are NO forward-facing dashboard or steering-wheel style airbags in the back, the situation is incredibly dangerous when second row seatbelt buckle anchors fails!
NHTSA’s ODI investigators don’t just rely on formal complaint forms filed on NHTSA.gov and hotline calls. They certainly utilize software to scan the internet (including enthusiast forums, Reddit, and public platforms like Mac’s Motor City Garage) for keywords regarding vehicle fires, component failures, or steering loss. If a community of mechanics on a forum spots a pattern of vehicle defects before the manufacturer reports it, NHTSA can use public posts as a rationale to help open a safety defect PE.