Ford is recalling 47,587 F-150 and F-250 Super Duty trucks because a software glitch can block the rearview camera image right when a driver needs it most: while backing up. The defect, filed with regulators as NHTSA campaign 26V489, means the trucks no longer meet the federal rear-visibility standard they were certified against.

Key Points

• Ford’s own filing describes the defect simply: “A software error may cause the rearview camera image to be obstructed by the infotainment home screen menu when the vehicle is placed in reverse.”
• An obstructed camera image reduces the driver’s rear visibility and increases the risk of a crash, according to the same filing — the exact hazard federal rearview camera rules exist to prevent.
• Only trucks equipped with the 8-inch SYNC infotainment screen are affected; larger and smaller screen configurations are not part of this campaign.
• Ford’s internal recall number is 26C37.

What’s Affected

• Ford F-150: model years 2021, 2022, and 2023
• Ford F-250 Super Duty: model years 2023 through 2026
• Units potentially affected: 47,587
• Condition: Trucks built with the 8-inch SYNC screen only

What Owners Should Do

Ford began mailing owner notification letters on August 7, 2026. Unlike a hardware recall, this one has a relatively painless fix: dealers will update the software on the truck’s accessory protocol interface module, and in many cases that update can be delivered over the air rather than requiring a service appointment at all. Ford says the remedy is free either way. Owners who want to check their VIN now, ahead of the letter, can do so through NHTSA’s recall lookup tool, and can reach Ford customer service directly at 1-866-436-7332 by referencing recall 26C37. A second letter confirming the software fix is ready for install will follow in September.

Backup cameras have been mandatory on new vehicles sold in the U.S. since 2018 specifically because backing-up crashes disproportionately injure children and pedestrians who are too short to be seen through mirrors alone. A camera that exists but gets covered up by a menu screen at the exact moment the truck shifts into reverse defeats the purpose of the requirement just as thoroughly as if the camera weren’t there. It’s also not Ford’s first rearview-camera software problem in recent memory — CBS News reported on a separate 2025 Ford campaign that recalled more than a million vehicles for a similar backup-camera display glitch. The recurrence points to how much of a modern truck’s safety equipment now lives in software rather than hardware, and how a single display bug can undo a federally mandated feature just as completely as a broken wire or a dead sensor would.