2026 Hyundai Palisade

The contact owns a 2026 Hyundai Palisade. The contact stated that while his mother was exiting the vehicle, her ankle was crushed by the seats, and medical attention was provided. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact received the recall notification letter for NHTSA Campaign Number: AWAITING1 (Seats). The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 1,500.

2026 Hyundai Palisade Caligraphy Walk-in Auto Cycle crushed my adult daughter's legs between second row seat and the driver's seat. This occurred after my daughter took her seat (in the 2nd row) and our [XXX] grandson (sitting behinder her in the 3rd row seat) inadvertently pressed the "walk-in" button on the back of his mother's seat. Once the auto-cycle started, she did not know how to stop it. This is a completely unacceptable design as the vehicle will move seats in auto-cycle despite the fact that there is a person sitting in the seat. I reported this problem to the dealer and to Hyundai Corporation as a safety issue. I insisted that the vehicle design should be immediately changed and that they treat this as a safety issue. Hyundai engaged with a third party inspector (EAA Bosch) to review the vehicle and the design. Hyundai's final disposition on this to me (sent on Feb. 27, 2026 stated: "...there is no evidence of a defect or malfunction contributing to the reported condition with the seat, at this time. Therefore, while we sympathize with you about the incident, in the absence of a finding of a defect, Hyundai will not be accepting any liability or offering any financial assistance." We asked Hyundai to fix this problem before someone got hurt. Yesterday, (March 16, 2026) we learned that a [XXX] girl was killed by one of these power seats with what appears to be the identical issue. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

I am reporting a serious safety issue involving my 2026 Hyundai Palisade with fewer than 5,000 miles. Hyundai has now issued Recall 296 stating that the second and third row power seats may not respond properly when contacting an occupant or object. Prior to receiving the recall notice, I had already taken the vehicle to the dealership three separate times regarding problems with the rear seats and unexplained battery failures. Each time I was told nothing was wrong with the seats. The first incident occurred when my child was seated in the rear seat. I attempted to move the seat backward to create more space, but instead of opening properly the seat continued moving in a way that began closing toward my child and would not stop. I was able to quickly remove my child before the seat fully closed. The seat then continued moving on its own. The second incident involved the vehicle battery completely dying without warning. When AAA came to jump start the vehicle, I heard the rear seat motors operating mechanically even though no one was using the seats. The third incident occurred when the battery died again and AAA was called a second time. During the jump start I again heard mechanical movement from the rear seat motors. I had to pay to replace the battery even though the vehicle was nearly new. I informed the dealership multiple times that I believed the issue was related to the seat system, but they told me they could not find anything wrong. Given that Hyundai has now issued Recall 296 regarding malfunctioning power seats, I am extremely concerned that this defect presents a serious safety hazard, particularly to children in the rear seats. I believe the seat system may also be draining the battery due to unintended motor operation.

The 2nd and 3rd row power-folding seats in my 2026 Hyundai Palisade do not detect the presence of a person or object when automatically folding. The seats continue to fold even if someone is sitting on the seat, creating a serious entrapment and injury risk and even death, especially for children. I reported this safety concern multiple times to the selling dealer (Hyundai of Kirkland), but they stated they could not disable the auto-fold function or provide a fix. Hyundai has now issued Recall 296 related to this defect after a reported child fatality, which confirms the safety risk I previously raised. I purchased this vehicle to transport my newborn child and this defect creates a severe safety hazard. I am filing this complaint to document the issue and the lack of a timely remedy.

Incident Description: While assisting a child seated in the third row, my wife leaned between the second-row seatback and the vehicle’s side pillar to unbuckle the child’s seatbelt. During this time, the second-row “3rd-row access” button was accidentally pressed, which triggered the automatic powered seat movement. The second-row seat began reclining and moving without warning, and my wife’s head became trapped between the seatback and the side pillar as the seat continued to move. The powered seat did not immediately stop when resistance was encountered, creating a dangerous entrapment situation involving the head and neck area. The seat had to be manually stopped to free her. Fortunately, serious injury was avoided, but the situation posed a significant risk of head, neck, or crushing injury, especially in a family vehicle frequently used to access the third row. Safety Concern: The second-row automatic seat movement can be triggered accidentally and does not appear to have adequate obstruction detection or pinch protection. When someone is leaning into the third row (which is common when assisting children), the seat movement can create a severe head or body entrapment hazard. This appears to be a serious safety defect involving powered seat movement and inadequate obstruction detection.

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.

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.

1. 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. 2. 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 3. 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. 4. No 5. No