Paccar has recalled nearly 6,000 model-year 2027 Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks built this summer because the power distribution center — the box that feeds exterior lighting, wipers, the defogger, ABS and drive power — may be contaminated with oil. There is no warning lamp and no gradual degradation. Those systems can drop together, at speed.
The contamination did not originate at Paccar's truck plants. It happened upstream, at the supplier building the circuit boards inside the box, and it ran undetected through five weeks of production.
One box, three federal safety standards
NHTSA campaign 26V485 covers 12 model designations, all 2027: Kenworth T280, T380, T480, T680, T880 and W990, and Peterbilt 536, 537, 548, 567, 579 and 589. Paccar filed the defect notice on July 27. The agency's summary puts the potential population at 5,925 units, while Paccar's own report totals 5,919 trucks — with the Kenworth T680 (1,451) and Peterbilt 579 (989) carrying the largest counts.
The filing is blunt about why an electrical fault rises to a full safety recall rather than a service campaign: the affected trucks fail to comply with FMVSS 103 (windshield defrosting and defogging), 104 (wiping and washing) and 108 (lamps and reflective devices). A loss of lighting, wipers, ABS function or drive power, NHTSA writes, "can increase the risk of a crash."
0.3% defective, 100% inspected
A damaged air compressor filter at supplier PKC Group North America let oil into the soldering process for the printed circuit boards going into the power distribution centers. Paccar traced the exposure to trucks built between June 9 and July 13, 2026 — a handful of medium-duty models starting a couple of weeks later — and identified July 14 as the point where production controls closed the gap.
Paccar estimates only 0.3% of the recalled population actually carries the defect, roughly 18 trucks. All of them still have to be inspected, because nothing outside the box indicates which units got the contaminated boards.
The remedy reflects that. Dealers will read PDC serial numbers and replace boxes only where the serial falls in the suspect range, at no charge. Interim owner letters go out September 25, with a second round once the final remedy is available — meaning the permanent fix is not yet defined.
What to check before that truck goes back out
If you took delivery of a 2027 Kenworth or Peterbilt in July or August, run the VINs against 26V485 before you put the unit on a night run or a winter lane. The functions at risk here — headlamps, markers, wipers, defog, ABS — are precisely the ones that matter after dark and in weather.
Do not chase this one with parts. A PDC replacement under 26V485 is warranty work at a Peterbilt (1-940-591-4220) or Kenworth (1-425-828-5888) dealer, and sourcing a box yourself gives that up. What is worth doing is knowing what the 2027 spec on your unit actually carries, since the campaign spans everything from the medium-duty 500-series and T280 through the on-highway 579, 589 and W990. The model specs and parts fitment for each Kenworth and Peterbilt line will tell you which lighting and harness package you are working with.
For trucks outside the June-to-July window showing the same symptoms — markers that flicker, wipers that quit, an ABS lamp that will not clear — this recall is not the answer. Start with the failure-mode guides for tracing an intermittent electrical fault rather than pulling the panel apart. If that lands on a relay, fuse block or connector that is out of warranty, check the interchange on the part number before you order it.
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