{"id":10980,"date":"2026-08-10T15:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/?p=10980"},"modified":"2026-08-10T15:15:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:15:37","slug":"seat-belt-problem-prompts-safety-action-for-dodge-hornet-and-alfa-romeo-tonale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/?p=10980","title":{"rendered":"Seat Belt Problem Prompts Safety Action for Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A newly identified seat belt defect is affecting nearly <strong>49,000 Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale vehicles<\/strong>, raising concerns about passenger safety in the rear seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the issue involves the <strong>rear outboard seat belt retractors<\/strong>. Under certain conditions, the seat belts can become twisted inside the retractor mechanism, preventing them from retracting smoothly or maintaining the proper tension against the occupant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this may seem like a minor inconvenience, it can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the restraint system during a collision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which Vehicles Are Affected?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The safety campaign applies to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>2023-2025 Dodge Hornet<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>2023-2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In total, approximately <strong>48,777 vehicles<\/strong> are included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is the Problem?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The defect affects the rear seat belt retractors located on the left and right outboard rear seating positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a seat belt twists internally, it may no longer retract freely after use. More importantly, it may fail to maintain the proper tension needed to keep an occupant securely restrained during certain types of crashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seat belts are designed to remove excess slack and hold passengers firmly in place. When that function is compromised, the risk of injury during an accident increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Was the Issue Discovered?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigation began in <strong>April 2026<\/strong>, when FCA US alerted Stellantis Europe to a potential issue involving rear seat belt retractors in the Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Engineers spent the following months reviewing warranty claims and investigating similar issues that had previously been identified in Europe. By <strong>July 1, 2026<\/strong>, the company concluded that the problem could occur under specific conditions because of a weakness in the seat belt retractor design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of <strong>July 30, 2026<\/strong>, the manufacturer had received:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>484 warranty claims<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>0 reported accidents<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>0 reported injuries<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>0 field reports<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Although no injuries have been linked to the defect, manufacturers often address safety issues before they result in serious crashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Will Dealers Do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To correct the problem, dealers will <strong>replace the affected rear seat belt retractors&nbsp;<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Owner notification letters are expected to begin mailing on <strong>September 24, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Should Owners Do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you own a <strong>2023-2025 Dodge Hornet<\/strong> or <strong>2023-2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale<\/strong>, watch for your notification letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Campaign Information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>NHTSA Campaign Number:<\/strong> 26V-510<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manufacturer Campaign Number:<\/strong> 84D<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manufacturer:<\/strong> Chrysler (FCA US, LLC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If your vehicle is included, scheduling the repair promptly will help ensure your rear seat belts provide the protection they were designed to deliver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A newly identified seat belt defect is affecting nearly 49,000 Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale vehicles, raising concerns about passenger safety in the rear seats. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the issue involves the rear outboard seat belt retractors. Under certain conditions, the seat belts can become twisted inside the&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/?p=10980\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1659,31,151,1603,1317,1605],"tags":[185,140,1161,1660,1362],"class_list":["post-10980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alfa-romeo","category-chrysler","category-dodge","category-fca","category-lemon-alert","category-stellantis","tag-auto-safety","tag-automobile-safety","tag-repeated-automobile-problems","tag-seat-belt-defect","tag-seat-belt-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10983,"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10980\/revisions\/10983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calemonlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}