A dashboard going black in the middle of a drive is the kind of plot twist no one wants, and it is exactly what has triggered a new recall for Mercedes-Benz owners across the United States. The automaker is recalling 144,049 vehicles after a software bug in the infotainment system can cause the instrument-panel display to go blank, temporarily hiding the speedometer and warning lights. The recall covers a wide swath of 2024-2026 models, including AMG GT, C-Class, E-Class, SL, CLE and GLC variants, and applies to vehicles built from Sept. 19, 2022, through Feb. 6, 2026. Mercedes says dealers will install a free software update to restore display reliability. The recall filing with federal regulators was submitted on May 1, 2026.
According to Cars.com, dealers will update the infotainment control unit software at no cost, and owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on June 26. Cars.com reports that owners can check their vehicle identification number on NHTSA's website or call Mercedes-Benz customer service at 1-800-367-6372 for details. The outlet notes that the failure can occur without warning while a vehicle is in motion, leaving drivers unable to see critical driving information.
In a Part 573 safety report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Mercedes-Benz lists the recall as NHTSA recall no. 26V281 and identifies 144,049 potentially affected vehicles. The report breaks the total down by model, including 25,044 2025 GLC 300 4MATIC units, 15,844 2025 GLC 350 e 4MATIC units and 13,612 2025 C 300 units, and explains that the recall population was determined based on affected software versions. The filing warns that "the driver may be unable to view certain driving-related information during the reset process" (NHTSA).
Mercedes began rolling out an over-the-air display software update in August 2025 but told NHTSA that not every vehicle received it, which helped push this from a quiet software campaign into a formal safety recall. According to the agency's filing, roughly 62 percent of the affected population had already received the over-the-air update, and "On April 27, 2026, Mercedes-Benz AG decided to transform the remaining OTA campaign into a safety recall." Dealers will apply the same software remedy to the remaining vehicles at no charge.
Why Dashboards Are a Growing Recall Risk
Carmakers keep stuffing more of a car's basic functions into screens and software, and that means a single glitch can suddenly take out information that used to live in old-fashioned gauges. Speed, warning indicators and other critical cues now sit inside digital instrument clusters, which can turn a minor software hiccup into a serious safety concern. As Road & Track reported, the U.S. recall follows earlier actions in South Korea and highlights the limits of over-the-air fixes for vehicles that have not yet received software updates.
What Owners Should Do
If you own a 2024-2026 Mercedes-Benz in the affected groups, check your VIN on the NHTSA recall lookup and review the Cars.com summary, then contact your dealer to schedule the free software repair. Mercedes-Benz customer service at 1-800-367-6372 can confirm whether your vehicle is included and when notifications will be sent. If you experience a sudden loss of instrument information while driving, pull over safely and report the incident to your dealer and to NHTSA's safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236.
Both the agency and the automaker say they are not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths tied to the display resets so far, a detail noted in contemporaneous coverage. For the full technical breakdown and the complete model list, see Mercedes-Benz's Part 573 recall filing with NHTSA and the related coverage linked above.
