Hyundai announced on Friday that it’s ordering dealers to stop selling certain trims of its three-row 2026 Palisade after an issue with the second- and third-row power seats, which can fold up and down automatically using buttons in the trunk area, killed a two-year-old girl.
In a press release, Hyundai says the incident, which occurred on March 7, is still under investigation but did not provide any additional details. The company is reaching out to owners to exercise caution while operating the second- and third-row power seats, and plans to issue a recall in the near future for affected models.
While it’s not entirely clear what happened, complaints from owners to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate that the second- and third-row seats may not detect whether a passenger is present and may fold when commanded, pinning the passenger and potentially causing injury.
People Have Been Voicing Their Concerns
The second- and third-row power seats are available on the Palisade’s two most expensive trims, the Limited and Calligraphy. Those are the models Hyundai is telling dealers to stop selling as of Friday. This video shows how they work, with a panel on the left side of the trunk area:
Here’s how the company describes the fault:
In certain situations, those seats may not adequately detect contact with an occupant or object as intended. This condition may occur during second and third-row power‑folding operations, as well as during use of the second-row one‑touch tilt‑and‑slide function.
Hyundai is telling current owners to be careful about using the second- and third-row power seat functions “to ensure that no person or object, including children, is in the seat or seat-folding area before operating the power seat.”
That’s not great, obviously. It’s reasonable to expect a car to know there’s someone or something in a seat and reject a command from the controls, or at least sense whether there’s an unusual resistance from the seat when folding to stop and retract itself.
According to the NHTSA, there have been at least three complaints submitted on the 2026 Palisade referencing this exact issue, going back to November 2025. The earliest came from a dealer in Ohio, who discovered the problem and even tested it on themselves:
The 2nd row powered seats do not (or the system failed) have a force feedback sensor or anyway to tell if something or someone is in the way from it moving the seat back. If someone is climbing into the 3rd row seat and the button to move a 2nd row seat is pressed the person can be crushed, potentially pinning them in place and or choking their neck. The incident happened at a dealership with a at the time unsold car that had just arrived. I was personally able to reproduce the problem by pressing the button on the seat that moves it back into place while I was sitting behind it, the seat attempted to recline back pinning me in place till I pressed the button again.
The next complaint, which came in December 2025 out of Washington, voiced similar concerns and even noted the dangers the potential fault can pose to children:
Power folding seats do not stop when met with an obstruction. Occupant exiting the 3rd row of the vehicle was squished between the 2nd row seat and door frame of vehicle while trying to exit and it was very painful. When tested at the dealership, they confirmed that, even if excessive force is applied to the seat back while it’s folding or sliding, it will not stop folding or sliding, which could cause physical injury. Dealership stated that there is no sensor to stop the seats from folding, even if there is an obstruction in the way and that you must press the button again to stop it. This is a safety concern for any passengers on the 2nd and 3rd rows, especially children.
The final complaint, which came at the end of December, describes a particularly scary incident that involved someone actually getting pinned by one of the seats:
A passenger got into the passenger side middle row seat and the seat fold up button was accidentally bumped while the person was trying to get situated and buckled. The seat began moving and folding forward, pinning the passenger between the seat they were in and the back of the front seat. This incident hurt the passenger who had the force of the seat against her and it frightened her very badly. If the door had been locked, the passenger would not have been able to be helped out and could have sustained worse injuries. I have not had the dealer look at this yet as we live almost 3 hours away from the nearest one.
While it’s not clear if there are physical sensors in the rear seats for detecting occupancy, the Palisade (as well as many other Hyundais) uses a system called Rear Occupant Alert to monitor whether there are people or pets present in the car. The system uses ultrasonic sensors in the headliner and works even when the car is shut off and locked. When it was launched back in 2017, it was marketed as a way to prevent people from forgetting children or animals in hot cars, not to detect whether there were people in seats for folding purposes. I’ve reached out to Hyundai to clarify.
There’s A Recall Coming Real Soon
Obviously, these cars shouldn’t be left the way they are, so Hyundai says it’s in the process of submitting a recall to the NHTSA. The recall, which is “currently under development,” will affect around 68,500 cars, according to the company.
As a stopgap, Hyundai says it’s going to release an over-the-air software update to “enhance the system’s response to contact with occupants or objects, introduce additional operating safeguards, and enhance overall system safety.”
It’s not clear right now when the permanent fix will become available—I’ve reached out to Hyundai about that, too. In the meantime, just make sure you double-check your kids are out of the car before pressing any buttons in the trunk.
Top graphic image: Hyundai
Power folding seats… one of those features that is fancy just for the sake of looking fancy. I would never want this feature… just like how I find power liftgates to be more annoying than useful.
Not surprising since this is also the car you can start with a usb drive. Seems like there were more than a few oversights with this car.
No, it is not. That problem applies to Kia/Hyundai with physical key interfaces that lacked immobilizers for a certain range of years. None of that applies to the Palisade.
Any translating piece of equipment that interacts with humans should have limit switches or resistance sensors. Any. This is going to be a huge lawsuit.
Having worked in automotive development and now in industrial automation equipment, this is such a massive oversight. And what a terrible tragedy for something that would have been avoided if just one of the hundreds of engineers involved had thought for one second about the scenarios motorized seats could wind up in during the life of the car – especially a family car.
There was an incident a while back with an Odyssey third row seat that resulted in the death of a 16 year old, so there’s really no excuse for them not to have considered this possibility. And that was more of a “freak accident” kind of scenario where he was trapped upside down, not that he was being actively crushed by a powered seat that could be accidentally activated with an errant button press.
How the hell is entrapment in motorized mechanisms not something manufacturers test for?
From hatches on SUVs, to frunks, to folding seats. Why is this so difficult?
Also, do the seats REALLY need to be motorized? My Sorento has pull straps on the 3rd row that release the latch and allow you to put the seat up or down with one hand. I regularly use the 3rd row to keep groceries from sliding around.
The 2nd row has a remote cable release. To fold them back up, you just pull the recline handle and fold the seat back up from the passenger door before getting in the seat. Why does any of this need motors?
Motors are more impressive at the dealership. If any competitor has motors, everyone without motors is at a disadvantage.
In actual use, levers are just as convenient and a whole lot faster but much less marketable.
Hyundai/Kia releasing a seemingly enticing new model without committing some sort of heinous unforced error that grabs headlines challenge: impossible
I like my Kona N but this company just cannot manage the fine details to save their lives. They’re never, ever shaking the cheap reputation…and unfortunately they don’t deserve to because they still can’t handle the most basic QC shit. This incident is particularly tragic and makes the Kia Boiz shit seem downright mundane.
This is really, really going to hurt their sales of this vehicle too. As someone who’s going to be buying a family hauler with their wife in the next 2 years or so let me be the first to tell you-moms obsess over stuff like this, and rightly so. A single story like this spreading on mom Tik Tok or whatever is enough for millions of people to cross a Palisade off their shopping list in a matter of hours.
It’s a shame. I took a look at one of these when my Kona was being serviced and really liked it. My wife had even gotten to the point of “fine, we’ll at least look at the Korean cars”, which took years, but now? Poof. Can’t wait to spend $65,000 on a goddamn Grand Highlander because, like Hyundai, Toyota only stocks the highest trim.
But can you really put a price on peace of mind? Probably not. If you’re a parent as well you know….
Piece of mind is paramount. I hope mom tock goes after this. If you’re open to minivan, we are very happy with Odyssey switching from Highlander (didn’t fit our wagon). Lake effect winter doesn’t stop it with good tires.
We’re prioritizing a hybrid and Honda is running late on their hybrid haulers
Sienna time!
Another thing that breaks overtime and unfortunately it took a life with it. How horrible for the parents of that child. Where is their FMEA analysis on this?
This is so grim and tragic, and for what? Not everything needs to be motorized. I can fold a seat in far less time than it takes the dumb motor to do it while I stand there watching.
I messed around with one of these at a dealership and the power folding seats are slow as fuck too. What’s the point?
Unnecessary complexity, weight and cost. A lot of motorized items in cars can be deleted.
This is going to hit my local Hyundai dealer HARD.
I was just recently perusing Palisades, and I did not find a single one (out of at least two dozen) that wasn’t a Calligraphy or the XRT PRO (or whatever alphabet soup the ‘off-road one’ is called).
Furthermore, power folding seats are one of the ridiculous things that SUVs simply don’t need. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cursed the rear power folding seats in our Explorer – they are slow and stupid, and for as often as the functionality is actually NEEDED, manual seats would be just FINE.
The electrical enshittification of cars needs to stop.
Yep. Just “fanciness” in the name of being fancy. No other benefit. Hell, the time it takes for the MOTORS to fold the seats is often more than it would take for someone to manually fold them. And, the motors are just another eventual fail point. Maybe not a common one, but still.
That toddler’s death from a car’s seat is incredibly sad and difficult to process.