*This content was translated by AI.
Hyundai Motor has recently decided to suspend sales and make a massive recall in the North American market due to faulty wiring inside the seat belt buckle on the third row of the 2026 Palisade. This is an additional problem that occurred less than a few months after the infant's death due to the electric seat folding problem. The defect was identified as a problem caused by the internal wiring connected to the seat belt buckle on the left seat of the third row being not properly secured by design, and it was found that there was a risk that the wiring could get stuck or damaged in the mechanical device when folding or unfolding the electric seat.
In particular, if the wiring is damaged, the safety sensor that detects obstacles and stops the seat from operating will lose its function, which can lead to serious injury by operating without reverse rotation when people or objects are caught between the seats. In fact, a tragic accident in Ohio, U.S., in which a two-year-old child died after being caught in an electric seat, revealed the fatal risk of the defect, and Hyundai Motor took immediate action in consideration of the urgency of the issue.
The recall covers 2026 Palisades Limited and Calligraphy Trim vehicles, including about 61,000 in the U.S. and about 8,000 in Canada, and Hyundai strongly recommends that model owners never use the three-row electric seat function until official repairs are completed. Hyundai Motor plans to implement temporary measures to strengthen the obstacle detection logic of seats through wireless software updates (OTA) first, while checking the layout of the left seat belt buckle wiring in the third row for vehicles visiting the service center and installing protective caps and readjusting wiring free of charge to prevent physical damage. The measurement method is to reduce harness tension by replacing wiring with 110mm longer harnesses, and to exchange buckle itself if necessary according to inspection. In addition, the defect is likely to affect some of Kia's 2027 Telluride initial supplies, which share the same platform and sheet structure, and Kia has also launched a preemptive recall review along with an analysis of related data.
Automotive industry experts are calling for a significant strengthening of safety design standards for electric convenience equipment in the wake of the accident, and point out that it is necessary to thoroughly identify the cause of physical wiring interference beyond simple software errors. Hyundai Motor's North American subsidiary announced that it will send customer notices sequentially starting in May through cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and is making all-out efforts to supply repair parts and establish work processes. However, with the electric sheet problem already broken once, the sheet defect problem has led to a recall again, so the image damage seems inevitable.
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*This content was translated by AI.
