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Hyundai recalls Palisade SUVs in Korea, U.S. and Canada due to safety concerns from automatic seats

Published: 24 Mar. 2026, 14:01 Updated: 24 Mar. 2026, 15:17

The new Palisade SUVs [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Korea's Transport Ministry announced on Tuesday the recall of 58,000 Hyundai Motor Palisade hybrid SUVs nationwide over safety concerns, following a fatal accident in the United States earlier this month.

Hyundai also halted sales of some high-end versions of its new Palisade SUVs. In the United States and Canada, the company recalled 68,500 new Palisade SUVs after a two-year-old girl in Ohio died on March 7. Local reports said the automatic seat collapsed on the child, who was sitting in the third row of a Palisade SUV. Hyundai has said it is investigating what happened.

On Monday, Hyundai reported that two passengers of Palisade SUVs in Korea had been injured, in October and December of last year, possibly also due to a problem with the automatic seats.

That came after the automaker reported four injuries related to the power seat issue to the U.S. safety regulator last week.

Korea’s Transport Ministry said the Palisade’s second- and third-row seats failed to detect contact with occupants or objects due to inadequate software design in the seat controllers, posing safety risks.

On Friday, Hyundai started offering software updates to address safety concerns as an interim step, said the Transport Ministry, adding that Hyundai is considering additional measures to enhance safety.

Palisade was Hyundai's top-selling SUV in Korea last year. Meritz Securities said in a report that should the recall involve hardware replacement, it would cost the automaker about 100 billion won ($66.08 million), adding that the automaker could face potential class-action lawsuits and punitive damage claims.

Under the software update, Hyundai Motor will make it easier to turn off the automatic-folding function, with a single switch operation. Previously, a person needed to turn the car off and back on before disabling the power seat feature.

The update will also restrict activation of the power seat function to when the tailgate is open.

Reuters