Ford recalls ~91,198 model-year 2018-2020 F-150 trucks for daytime running lights that may not dim

Here’s the short version: if you own a 2018 through 2020 Ford F-150, and it already went in for a headlight-related recall fix, that fix may not have taken. Ford is calling roughly 91,198 of these trucks back because the daytime running lights may not dim the way they’re supposed to. This is a re-recall — a do-over on repairs that were done wrong the first time.

That’s not a paperwork problem. It’s a your-truck-is-blinding-oncoming-drivers problem, and it’s worth taking seriously.

What actually fails on your truck

Daytime running lights are supposed to run at reduced brightness during the day. They make your truck easier to see without throwing full high-output glare at everyone around you. On these F-150s, the DRLs may not dim as they’re required to.

When those lights don’t step down, they stay brighter than they should be. To the driver coming toward you, or the one sitting at the intersection, that’s glare. Glare washes out their ability to see clearly, and that’s exactly what raises crash risk — per the filing, lights that fail to dim can reduce the visibility of other drivers.

Here’s the part that stings. According to NHTSA’s filing under campaign 26V373, these trucks were already brought in and repaired under an earlier recall. That earlier repair was done incorrectly. So the trucks that owners thought were fixed are back on the list, needing a corrected repair.

What the filing says

Ford is recalling 91,198 model-year 2018-2020 F-150 pickups. The reason is straightforward: these trucks were previously repaired the wrong way under a prior recall, and as a result the daytime running lights may not dim as required.

The remedy is a corrected repair at a Ford dealer, done free of charge. That’s the standard on any open safety recall — you don’t pay for the fix.

This one showed up in a weekly recall roundup published about a week ago, citing the NHTSA filings. If you’re one of the owners who already went through the earlier headlight recall, don’t assume you’re clear. The whole point of a re-recall is that the first repair didn’t do the job.

What this means if you own one

If you’ve got a 2018, 2019, or 2020 F-150, here’s how I’d handle it.

1. Run your VIN. Go to NHTSA.gov/recalls and enter your vehicle identification number. That tells you whether recall 26V373 is open on your specific truck. Don’t guess based on whether you remember getting a letter or a prior repair — check the actual VIN status. You can also line it up against the hub for your year: 2018 Ford F-150, 2019 Ford F-150, or 2020 Ford F-150.

2. Know that a past repair doesn’t mean you’re covered. This is the key thing on a re-recall. Trucks that were repaired incorrectly the first time are exactly the ones on this list. If your VIN comes back open, schedule the corrected repair even though you thought this was already handled.

3. Get the corrected fix at a Ford dealer — for free. The remedy is a corrected repair, and it costs you nothing. If a dealer or shop tries to charge you for a recall repair, that’s not how a safety recall works. Push back.

4. Pay attention to your lights. You may not always notice from the driver’s seat that your DRLs aren’t dimming. If someone flashes you in the daylight or you catch your truck’s reflection looking overly bright at the front, take it as a nudge to check your recall status.

5. Document everything. Keep the repair order from any prior headlight recall work and from the corrected repair. If the first fix was done wrong, you want a paper trail showing what was done, when, and by whom. That protects you if anything else surfaces later.

The honest take

A recall for daytime running lights doesn’t sound as scary as a stalling engine or a brake failure, and mechanically it isn’t. Your truck will start, drive, and stop the same way it always did. The risk here is to the people around you — glare that makes it harder for other drivers to see, and that’s a real crash factor, not a hypothetical.

What bothers me more is that this is a re-recall. These trucks were supposedly already fixed, and the fix was wrong. That’s a reminder that “I already had the recall done” isn’t the same as “the problem is actually solved.” Run your VIN, get the corrected repair, and hold onto your paperwork. The fix is free and the fix is simple. The only real cost is the time it takes to make sure it’s done right this time.