- Hyundai and Kia recall certain three-row SUVs as rear seats may miss occupants.
- The issue is tied to one fatality and one injury in similar Hyundai systems.
- No fix exists yet, and dealers cannot sell affected models until a repair arrives.
Less than a week ago, a fatal accident involving a child in the rear seats of a Hyundai Palisade triggered a recall. The automaker acknowledged that the power rear seats might be hazardous in some situations. Now, as a precaution, the recall is expanding to several hundred 2027 Kia Telluride SUVs. Dealers have also been instructed to hold these models and complete repairs before putting them back on sale.
The initial recall affected over 61,000 Palisades from the 2026 model year. This latest action now adds 568 examples of the 2027 Telluride Hybrid SX Prestige and X-Line SX Prestige, equipped with the Executive Package.
All of these SUVs have powered second-row seat mechanisms designed to tilt, slide, or fold automatically to allow access to the third row. As Hyundai and Kia put it, the vehicles “do not contain sufficient anti-pinch protection for occupants during activation of certain seat adjustment features.”
More: Child Death Leads To 2026 Hyundai Palisade Recall, But Still No Fix
Specifically, the companies are referring to the way the seat folds when someone hits the automatic power-folding button or the “one-touch” tilt-and-slide button. Clearly, the issue is directly related to the fatality, and it’s also linked to one injury, says Hyundai. For now, dealers in the U.S. and Canada are under a stop-sale order until the recall work is complete.
This is the downside of increasingly complex seating systems. Features meant to make third-row access easier are now motorized, automated, and software-controlled, which also means there’s more that can go wrong. And when it does, the consequences can be far more serious than a stuck manual latch. On top of that frustration, the automakers don’t have a fix just yet.
All Hyundai Motor Group says at this point is that “the remedy is currently under development.” Owner notification letters go out by May 19th, which means that some might not even know about this situation for another month. Between now and whenever the fix is done, owners are to be extremely careful when using the power-folding second-row seats.
