2026 Hyundai Santa Fe

The right side power captain seat in the second row began to fold down without the button being pressed. It happened with and without the seatbelt plugged in. It came down while my toddler was in her rear facing car seat and began to crush the car seat and push on her feet. The chair would not stop the power seat motors even with both my wife and myself pushing back on the seat trying to free our daughter from the car seat. It continued to push down the moment there was more space to collapse. No errors or messages or engine lights of any sort were displayed anywhere. Even after removing our daughter it happened several times again.

I bought a 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe AWD Calligraphy on April 25, 2026 from Pohanka Hyundai. On April 27, the second row captain's seat on the driver's side folded, pressing my child's chest to his knees. He had his seatbelt on and stated that, even though he tried, he was unable to resist the pressure from the automated collapse/folding feature. While I was in park, a child sitting in the third row pressed the second row collapse button next to their third row seat. The second row captain's seat with a 60+ lbs. child belted in folded. There were no indications that the seat was moving, no alarms or flashing lights on the driver's dashboard notified me. Had I not gotten out to look for someone, my child would have been folded in that position for the next 30 minutes as we drove from school to our home. I called the dealer on April 27 to ask about the collapse feature and if it should sense the seat is occupied before folding. The person who sold me the vehicle asked that I bring it in on April 29 for a diagnostic because he was not aware of a recall on the Santa Fe Calligraphy. A diagnostic was run on the vehicle on April 29 by Pohanka Hyundai Service Center. They stated that no codes came up and no recalls were reported.

My 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe has a dangerous power-fold feature for the middle row. This problem is making headlines in another model, the Hyundai Palisade, and for good reason. Why isn't the Santa Fe included in the recall(s) that are intended to correct the problem in the Palisade? In my vehicle, the second row has two seats (captain's chairs). The power-fold feature is the only way to fold the middle row for additional cargo space. When my wife activated the power-fold, I was unable to prevent that seat from folding. When I activated the power-fold, and an [XXX] relative was standing outside the vehicle, he was able to reach in, but he was not able to prevent the seat from folding, and he was very concerned when he learned this. Please note that, when the middle row seats are (manually) positioned forward in the vehicle, the power-fold feature does reverse when the folding seat contacts the back of a front seat. So there must be a sensor, but its threshold is set very high. In addition, when the conflict is removed, by (manually) moving the middle row seat backward in the vehicle, the auto-fold seems to take that as an invitation to fold again. I have only observed this once, but I argue that this is an uncommanded movement, and that there is no possible justification for this software/firmware action. Thank you for reading this. Please consider the Santa Fe for a future recall campaign. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

vehicle unable to determine when a passenger is seated with seatbelt fastened in 2nd row captains chairs and the ‘one-touch’ tilt-and-slide button is pressed. The seat will keep folding and crushing the passenger. This is a known issue with the Hyundai Palisade at this time and is affecting my vehicle as well. Please have Hyundai issue a recall immediately. My teenage son was in the seat at the time this happened.

The contact owns a 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while attempting to adjust the front driver's seat, the second-row passenger’s side seat engaged unintendedly. The child was seated in the booster seat, and the main seat started to fold down. The contact was unaware that the seat had been activated, but was able to stop the seat from fully folding. The child was unharmed. The dealer was notified of the failure; however, the manufacturer was contacted and informed of the failure. The manufacturer opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 174.