Hyundai Halts Palisade Sales Over Seat Safety Concerns

Hyundai Motor has halted sales of its new Palisade SUVs due to safety concerns with rear power seats following a fatal incident. Investigations are ongoing, and a temporary software update is being rolled out. A full recall fix is pending with customer safety as the top priority.

Hyundai Motor Company has stopped the sale of its latest Palisade SUVs following disturbing reports of safety issues with the vehicle's power seats. The South Korean carmaker confirmed the halt after a tragic incident involving a two-year-old girl in Ohio earlier this month.

The company announced on March 17 that it would recall 68,500 Palisade models in the U.S. and Canada for safety checks. The updates relate to the Limited and Calligraphy trims due to malfunctioning power seat assemblies that pose risks. Hyundai began looking into complaints last November and initially assessed these problems as minor.

Despite this, four injury reports have since emerged, prompting Hyundai to release an over-the-air software update to enhance seat safety. Although a permanent solution is yet to be implemented, the automaker is providing rental cars to affected customers and emphasizes caution around power-seat operations until a full remedy is available.

(With inputs from agencies.)