Ram recalls ProMaster vans for loss of power steering assist

Here’s the short version: if you drive a Ram ProMaster, the steering can suddenly get heavy on you, and Ram is recalling about 265,000 of these vans to deal with it. That’s a problem you feel in your hands and arms the second it happens, usually at the worst possible moment.

This covers a big spread of model years — 2022 through 2026 gas ProMasters, plus the 2024 through 2026 ProMaster BEV electric vans. The federal campaign number is 26V621. If you own or run one of these, keep reading, because losing power steering assist is not the kind of thing you shrug off.

What actually fails

The filing says certain Ram ProMaster and ProMaster BEV vans may experience a loss of power steering assist.

Here’s what that means in plain terms. Modern power steering does the heavy lifting for you. You turn the wheel, and a system boosts your input so parking, tight turns, and quick corrections take almost no muscle. When that assist cuts out, the steering doesn’t lock up — you can still physically turn the wheel — but it gets a lot harder, fast.

Think about what that feels like in a ProMaster specifically. These are tall, heavy cargo vans. A lot of them are loaded down with tools, parts, packages, or whatever your business hauls. The front end carries real weight. When the assist drops out on a van like that, the effort to turn the wheel jumps way up, and you’re fighting the steering with your arms instead of letting the system do it.

NHTSA spells out the risk the same way: loss of power steering assist increases steering effort and the risk of a crash. The danger isn’t abstract. If it happens while you’re mid-turn, merging, or trying to dodge something in traffic, you may not be able to turn as quickly as the moment demands. For a delivery driver making dozens of tight maneuvers a day, that’s a lot of chances for the assist to drop at a bad time.

What the filing says

This is Ram recall campaign 26V621, covering 265,512 vehicles. The affected list is the 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 RAM ProMaster, along with the 2024, 2025, and 2026 RAM ProMaster BEV.

The coverage reporting this came out within the last few days, grouped in with recalls affecting several other brands. The detail in the public filing is focused on the defect itself — the loss of power steering assist — and the safety consequence. Beyond that, the facts I have don’t spell out a single root cause or the exact repair, so I’m not going to guess at either. What matters right now is that Ram has flagged a safety defect across nearly the entire recent ProMaster lineup and assigned it a federal campaign number.

What this means if you own one

If one of these vans is parked in your driveway or sitting in your company’s fleet lot, here’s what to do about it.

1. Run your VIN. Go to the NHTSA recall lookup and enter your 17-digit VIN. That’s the only way to know for sure whether your specific van falls under 26V621. The model-year range is wide, but not every van in those years is automatically included — the VIN check tells you.

2. Don’t ignore a change in steering feel. If your wheel suddenly gets heavy, stiff, or harder to turn than normal, treat that as a real warning, not a quirk. That’s the symptom described in this recall. Get the van somewhere safe and don’t keep driving it like nothing’s wrong.

3. Watch this closely if you run a fleet. A lot of ProMasters are work vans getting driven hard every single day by multiple drivers. Make sure every driver knows what a loss of assist feels like and knows to report it. One van out of a fleet showing the symptom is worth pulling off the road until it’s checked.

4. The repair is free. This is a safety recall, which means the fix is done at no cost to you at a Ram dealer. You don’t pay for recall work. If a dealer tries to charge you for anything tied to 26V621, that’s not how a recall is supposed to work.

5. Document everything. Write down any dates you noticed the steering getting heavy, any service visits, and anything the dealer tells you. If this van is a loss of use for your business while it waits for parts or a fix, keep that paper trail. It protects you.

6. Watch for your notification letter. Ram will send recall notices to owners. If you bought your ProMaster used, make sure your address is current with the automaker so that letter actually reaches you.

You can keep an eye on the model pages for your van — the 2024 RAM ProMaster, 2025 RAM ProMaster, and 2026 RAM ProMaster — as more details come out.

The honest take

A loss of power steering assist is one of those defects where the physical fix might be straightforward, but the real-world risk is serious, because it hits you while you’re actively driving and steering. Nearly every recent ProMaster model year is swept into this one, which tells you Ram and NHTSA are treating it as a broad issue, not a one-off.

The good news is that nothing here says the steering fails completely — you keep control, it just takes real effort. The bad news is that effort shows up with no warning, and a loaded cargo van is exactly the kind of vehicle where heavy steering can get away from you.

Run your VIN, take any change in steering feel seriously, and get the free repair scheduled once your dealer has the fix available. On a van you’re trusting with your livelihood, this is not one to put off.