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
Great, now I can add this to my parent nightmare scenarios list.
It’s pretty unfathomable if there is not some sort of resistance sensor in place in these systems, but based on the descriptions it sure sounds like there either is no sensor or the activation threshold is way too high. The even simpler option (besides not having powered seats) would be to have a pull and hold switch as is pretty universal for windows. I see a number of folks have suggested the push and hold option, which would be an improvement for sure, but the pull and hold basically eliminates accidental activation.
As someone who lost their first born (not in this fashion but due to complications after he was born), I hope the family seeks therapy and can get it appropriately. It’s been the biggest struggle for me as we could only afford therapy for one of us after everything happened due to financial constraints and hospital bills and I knew my wife needed it more than I did.
It is a burden I don’t wish on even my worst enemies.
This makes me sick. Imagining what that poor child went through, and what the surviving family will go through for the rest of their lives.
I can only hope that this case is shocking enough that it has a real negative impact on these pointless, expensive, dangerous features (looking at you– stupid ass electric door handles).
Tell these idiots to STOP MOTORIZING RANDOM THINGS. Door handles, gloveboxes, folding seats! Why don’t they just motorize the gas pedal alread-oh, right. “Autonomy”.
It all started when some suit in Detroit decided the freaking steering, of all things, needed to be power-assisted, from that, the door was open to add power to every damn thing they could think of, from brakes to windows
Can’t tell if that’s a joke, but I don’t particularly mind power steering or brakes. Especially not on heavy vehicles with giant wheels.
Windows, I could live without but don’t particularly mind (but I know they can be dangerous if the switch is designed poorly and they don’t detect “obstruction”). Mirror adjustment is useful. Power windshield wipers are useful.
I can reach the glove box with my hand, easily. Door handles, obviously. Hand is in the name.
Non-power examples of similar things are latches for the hood or gas cap. Being able to control things on the opposite side of the car while seated as the driver is useful.
Unless it’s something like the seats, that you absolutely shouldn’t be adjusting from the driver seat. If things/people are being arranged in the back of the car, there is a person to arrange them.
I don’t know, 2/3 of my cars don’t have power steering, and I’ve never seen it as particularly necessary, another thing to leak and fail
If something like power steering cannot be implemented reliably, that is what one might call a “skill issue” on the automaker’s part.
Each tire is another thing to leak and fail, that doesn’t mean a unicycle is a more reliable vehicle.
There is a balance between “horseless carriage” and “Wait, why are we wasting time making an AI-powered car-as-a-service right before The Singularity is supposed to rapture us?”
If power steering is required to make the car controllable, that’s also a skill issue on the automaker’s part, it’s a crutch that they tricked everyone into thinking they need
Do I really need to elaborate on “horseless carriage”?
Is your manual transmission synchronized? Do you have AC (maybe not)? Do you have a (manually) adjustable seat? None of these things are necessary to make a metal frame with 4 wheels propel itself, but they do make it a hell of a lot better.
Things should have features and get better.
Except it’s a feature you can’t even tell is missing when it isn’t there, except maybe that it’s slightly heavier at low speed. It’s even more pointless than power seats
We have a similar set up in the yukon, these things are NOT labeled at all, looks the same in the palisade. I frequently hit the wrong one as its not my main driver. Luckily theirs move slow and are super weak.
What a nightmare, as a parent this is something that has crossed my mind and been grateful the car seat is in the way if I hit the wrong one at this stage. I hope this brings attention to this area of design, a few words or a informational sticker would save a lot of confusion and mistakes without adding cost. Of course some good sensors would be a preferred solution. “Why not both”.
This headline stopped everything else I was dealing with here at work. I cannot imagine, and never want to, what the parents and family are going through now, and how this will haunt the rest of their lives. Nothing can be said to ease the pain. Cherish those around us now, may not be a chance tomorrow.
Power folding seats are a ‘feature’ vehicles can do without for a number of reasons.
1. They are slower than manual seats as others have stated.
2. They add complexity for complexity’s sake and also additional weight.
3. They are easily operated without the intelligence required to check the path of travel for people and other obstructions.
I know that #3 is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way because weight and force sensors exist and should not have been missed in the design. It is still the responsibility of the person pushing the button to ensure that it is safe to push the button for the seat to move.
My problem is not being smart enough to hit the button for the correct row. I would love to see better labeling as well so I can do better in a car I don’t usually drive, or would rent on a family trip.
Even if one chose to insist that these have value (I’m not making that assertion), why do they need to be one touch? If these required you to hold the button down to operate them and stopped whenever the button was let off, this would basically eliminate 99% of the danger. Sure, older siblings would likely still pin younger siblings in, etc, but overall, the true risk to a person would be effectively fixed. Why do we need everything to be “one touch”? Why is it so damn hard to hold down a switch?
I would say that #3 could also apply to kids climbing around and playing in the car. That’s how I sprayed myself in the face with mace at like two years old. But, if this seat motor is so powerful, and keeps running regardless of resistance, and its that easy to trigger it (you don’t have to continuously hold the button), you could see a toddler doing it. Or, hell, what about a loose item in the cargo area or something
I think the bigger reason is because they allow for cheaper, worse ergonomic engineering. Engineering a good manual folding seat is a bit of an art. Spring weighting, latch placement, handle leverage—these are all considerations that can make or break the ergonomics of a folding seat and impact the customer experience. I’m sure some bucko in upper management figured they could simplify R&D by getting rid of all that, fitting an electric motor with a button, and calling it a high-end feature. As always, careless design masquerading as a ‘high-tech feature’. And it looks like Hyundai were a little too careless here.
Awful news.
Before we all pile on H/K for this – i was sitting in a new Lexus TX at an auto show this weekend and engaged the auto folding 3rd row and it put quite a bit of pressure to force me forward before it recognized there was a body there and reversed.
So maybe not just a Korean issue.
It sounds like H/K left out the “recognize there was a body there and reversed” part entirely, so piling on’s not entirely unwarranted either.
reminds me of back in the day when garage door closers didnt have the safety sensors and were crushing people left and right. just seems like a no brainer to have a sensor that wont let the seat budge if something is there. i mean wouldnt the seat sensor for airbag systems run along the same kind of situation, just tune it for like 5lbs of something in the seat?
Yeah, growing up, some friends lost their car that way. In their case, I think it did have sensors, but they weren’t installed right and were up too high, so the cat that fell asleep under them was too low to trigger the door to stop
I expect this level of trash engineering from the likes of General Motors but it looks as if the Koreans have allowed a few of GM’s neurons to enter their facilities. I mean if I just TOUCH my power tailgate as it is rising or lowering it immediately reverses… this isn’t rocket science H/K.
I don’t recall any children being killed by GM power seats.
Nope, but over a hundred people killed by a simple engineering oversight with a defective ignition switch. Hundreds injured.
Manufacturers being too cheap to spring for a sensor that prevents injury to a person or damage to the manufactured item. Classic.
Yep, I’m wondering if this was the “fatal flaw in critical component” for this model as seemingly mandated by Hyundai/Kia but since it won’t strand the vehicle maybe there’s something else…
This sort of shit freaks me the hell out as the parents of young kids. Even though I know the power sliders and hatch on my van have the correct and functioning sensors (I know because I test them frequently) they still make me nervous. In that case I actually find them to be potentially more safe, as the victim of having a friend smash my unsuspecting hand in a minivan slider as a kid.
This? First, power folding seats are stupid, slow, and obviously likely to break. But that these weren’t properly tested to… ugh again, the whole situation make me nauseous so I’ll stop there.
A “stop sale” order is the correct response to “our product just killed someone.” AI chatbot companies could learn a thing or two.
oh god, this isn’t the kind of story I wanted to wake up and read, all I can think of now is that poor kid
“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”
How the f*ck did that not get installed from day one and then checked and checked and checked and run past the corporate liability lawyers and then checked and checked again? Not exactly new tech, and not exactly a new safety concern.
It was. The conclusion? I would cost $10 million to include the feature, but we think we can negotiate the settlement with the dead child’s family down to $5 million.
Probably.
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.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks power liftgates are a waste. I really like manual stuff. I don’t need a computer and electricity to try and do all the things for me.
I’ll add my voice to this, power liftgate’s occasional helpfulness is completely offset by how annoying they are 80+ percent of the time. The new stupid thing, a buddy was showing me his new Tundra has a power tailgate which is perhaps an even stupider solution in search of a problem.
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.
It effected the 2020-2021 Palisade SE without the immobilizer.
Well then I guess it’s not “also the car” since the one under discussion in this article is a loaded 2026 not a base 2020 from six years ago and a different generation.
Still a KIA/Hyundai, and not surprising.
It’s okay to just admit you were wrong about something.
Both problems occurred with different generations of the same car. Accurate enough?
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.
Morgan & Morgan has entered the chat…
America’s largest injury law firm!
For the dead child’s family It’ll probably be a quick, and large, settlement. Then a recall with a free repair to keep it from happening again, to try to prevent a class action and any more death cases. The hardware is surely available to stop moving the seat once it encounters even a modest amount of resistance!
Amazing how HMG can get right on this, issue a stop sale, and begin work on a recall where there’s real/realized death risk, but the whole ICCU debacle is left to fester since they fail “slowly” enough that you can pull over…
I’d also be OK with just a weak motor or a plastic gear that makes it physically incapable of exerting enough force to cause injury.
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.
Was thinking of that incident.
I’ve worked in industrial automation also, and been in safety reviews, and I agree that it is extremely surprising that this situation was not considered and prevented.
The only thing I can think is that safety engineering for automotive is focused on an entirely different set of issues than for industrial automation. For automation, the big question is always “what will this moving thing do to a human who comes in contact with it and how do we prevent that?” whereas the big questions in auto safety are primarily crash related.
The auto safety guys don’t have the big red flashing lights in their brain when there’s a motorized system that can interact with a human because their flashing red lights are calibrated toward what happens if a pickup hits that area.
I wonder what the regulations say for motorized systems in cars and if this is a blind spot.
Yes I agree, if they are lacking the knowledge or talent or expertise re motorized moving parts, they need to remedy that quickly, and never neglect it again.
I remember one machine under review that was such that it was possible that if you removed a guard, the dangerous bits inside might not stop quickly enough to prevent an idiot sticking his hand in to not be injured. So what to do? The guards were of course the proper safety yellow already, so the moving bits had to be painted the proper safety orange, and it got a crap ton of warning stickers about removing guards, extra verbiage in the user manuals, and notes added to the training requirements communicated to the client.
I assume multiple engineers brought it up and were ignored due to cost issues.
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.
“These seats won’t kill your kids!” seems like a pretty easy sale for the manual seats.
Depends on the state.
Could definitely be a marketable feature in TX.
While I am inclined to agree it’s already legal if over certain political views so it probably won’t move the needle much.
On the other hand, I have a Hona Pilot with the straps. For me, it’s a pain in the ass to half climb in to reach the strap, especially when the seats are down. I’d love to have some power folding seats. But with, you know, some safety features.
My SUV doesn’t have a 3rd row, but it has a split folding rear seat with a latch right near the back hatch on each side. Pull it and the seatback for that side is released and falls forward.
Like others have said, it’s ‘engadgetization’ of a basic feature just for the gee whiz appeal – something we see too often, especially with EVs.
“EVs are too expensive to make!”
Well stop cramming electric motors into everything! From the door handles, to the seats, to the goddamn air vents. Once we got past electric windows, mirrors, and seat adjustments, we went too far.
I really hope Slate makes it to market and they sell well.
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!
That or a Highlander of some sort
I can understand that. At the time we were searching, we couldn’t find a sienna at a price that was agreeable to us.
I keep on asking myself why I keep considering the Toyota.
$65k Grand Highlander Hybrid Max Platinum, $62k Sienna Platinum, or $50k Odyssey Elite. The Palisade Hybrid Calligraphy is also $60k.
Options 1 and 2 I can’t even test drive, need to go beg a Toyota dealer for the opportunity to purchase, and hope they deliver the color combo I want.
Chances are I could go buy the Odyssey in the color combo I want tonight. $12k buys a lot of gas.
We could get a nearly loaded Pilot off the lot for under 50 grand….
Lake effect, good tires, and — AWD or front?
FWD on Michelin cross climates. Honda not only behind the game on hybrids but also AWD for odyssey, is a great vehicle despite. Managed 29mpg on our last 10hr road trip.
FWD minivans do fine in it. Heck I know people who did fine with all-seasons on a Dodge Grand Caravans back in the day.
It’s a big segment, lots of choice. This redesigned Palluride strikes me as an overhyped and underdeveloped fashion statement designed to draw the eye of suburban buyer who would love to be seen in a Range Rover but won’t pay above Pilot pricing. The styling is a chintzy pastiche. Both non-hybrid powertrains are objectively worse than the 3.8 V6 they replaced. Cool interior, but that only gets it so far with me.
No one seems enthusiastic about the conservative Pilot and Grand Highlander but I suspect they are superior vehicles in most respects.
Nissan dealers are selling Pathfinders in the low-to-mid-40s in my area. Not a hybrid but $20,000 buys a lot of gas.
The cost delta between ICE and hybrids could wind up large enough that we just get a gas guzzler like a Pilot. We’ll see. The biggest issue isn’t necessarily that it’s that much at MSRP, the issue is trimflation. Almost every single Toyota hybrid that hits lots just so happens to be the highest trim.
I’m sure that’s a complete coincidence and not due at all to their horrific allocation system!
“I’m sure that’s a complete coincidence and not due at all to their horrific allocation system!”
Ha, yeah, I’m guessing in Corporate Speak the explanation is “the highest trims sell best” and in Consumer Speak its “well duh, you won’t allocate any gawddamned lower trims to the dealers”
Haven’t bought a new car in 9 years, but when I did it was a higher demand model and I contacted every dealer in the state to see who would wheel and deal. Took a little bit of time but I never had to leave my desk to do it and ended up with a price I liked.
half a million regular highlanders were recalled today for having defective second row seats and there is still no remedy (to my knowledge) for the sienna’s unsafe second row
i’m afraid the grass is not really greener anywhere
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?
The point is purely to say “look at us! we have luxury features like the $90k BMW X7!”.
It’s painfully slow on the BMWs also.
Unnecessary complexity, weight and cost. A lot of motorized items in cars can be deleted.
Like the software industry, add gee-wiz and move crap around because there is no other way to justify increasing prices and get the marks into the new or upgraded vehicles. Power folding seats are an unnecessary feature along with double moon roofs and vehicles that accelerate like drag cars of decades back, handle like dump trucks and are exorbitantly overpriced.
Homebuilders do the same thing, too, stick granite countertops and a bigger bathtub in there, boom “luxury” housing, jack the profit margin up another double digit percent
Some flippers bought a house nearby, threw on a cheap paint job, and a basic budget Home Depot kitchen cab ‘upgrade’, finished the basement (poorly IMO) and tried to resell it for 200k more than they paid. Surprise! It didn’t sell. They sat on it for about a year and it finally sold for about 40k more than they paid. Made a few bucks if their labor was a few dollars an hour.
RVs, too. Marble (or fake marble) countertops on top of cabinets held together by staples.
Yes,exactly.
My dad had a BMW 1 series where you had to hold down on a little switch on the front seat to make it move forward to allow access to the backseat. It was slow and there was no other way. Imagine having to stand in the rain or something while waiting for the seat to slowly move forward. My two door GTI had a single, manual handle that you pulled on, which would lean the seat forward and slide it up as far as it could go in a single motion. Took maybe 1.5 seconds.
Right. Who wants this crap? My Sundance didn’t even have a lever you just shoved the seatback forward.
A buddy of mine was showing me how his 2009 e90 wagon has a power cargo cover. My thought, ahhh this is why this car weighs like 500 more lbs than my similarly sized Legacy GT wagon. And I can manually retract my cargo cover in 2 seconds and not worry about the motor or track getting goofed up if we overload the cargo area slightly, smh.
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.
Having open, accessible controls without safety circuitry is criminal. Consider two children playing in the car, kid 1 says watch this as kid 2 cries out. Makes me sick. Hope the company gets its ass sued off.