Seat Belt Status Indicator Malfunction

Affected vehicles (2)

Component / system

Defect

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2026 Hyundai Palisade and 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid vehicles equipped with "Limited" and "Calligraphy" trim packages. The internal wiring within the third-row driver-side seat belt buckle may become damaged and result in a permanent display of a belted third-row driver-side seat on the instrument panel.

Risk / consequence

A faulty seat belt status indicator may fail to alert occupants to an unfastened seat belt, increasing the risk of injury.

Remedy

Dealers will install a wiring harness extension and replace the seat belt assembly, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed beginning May 8, 2026. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 297. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov March 21, 2026.

Chronology of events

1. Jan 7, 2026

   January 7, 2026 – The North America Safety Office (“NASO”) received information from HMC regarding certain model year 2026 Palisade vehicles in the Korean domestic market exhibiting a false indication of the latch status for the 3rd-row driver-side seat belt. According to HMC, the internal wiring within the buckle was found to be unseated and/or damaged between the wiring harness and the buckle. NASO opened a new investigation and initiated monitoring of field data while gathering parts from the U.S. market for further analysis.

2. Jan 13, 2026

   January 13, 2026 – NASO conducted replication trials using NASO fleet test vehicles to understand the seat belt latching/locking operation and potential failure mechanism(s) involving the 3rd-row driver-side seat belt.

3. March 2026

   February - March 2026

4. February 2026

   February 2026 – NASO held weekly discussions with HMC to review potential root causes, manufacturing/design changepoint history, warranty part returns analyses, and the overall scope of potentially affected vehicles. During these discussions, NASO decided that additional evaluation was needed to assess susceptibility of the buckle’s internal wiring to become unseated through normal usage by U.S. market owners due to the short wiring length.

5. March 2026

   March 2026 – NASO conducted a survey of corporate associate fleet vehicles to evaluate typical user interactions in various buckling/latching scenarios involving 3rd-row seat belt assemblies equipped with wiring shorter than the seatbelt webbing.

6. Mar 12, 2026

   March 12, 2026 NASO convened its North America Safety Decision Authority (“NASDA”) and decided to conduct a safety recall of the affected model year 2026 Hyundai Palisade vehicles in the U.S. market. As of the date of its decision, Hyundai is aware of five (5) reports of the defect condition in the U.S. market. There are no related crashes, fires, injuries, and fatalities in the U.S. VIN(s) Date(s) KM8RMESA1TU****** 12/31/2025 KM8RMES22TU****** 12/10/2025 KM8RMES29TU****** 1/10/2026 KM8RMES25TU****** 12/19/2025 KM8RM5S28TU****** 10/1/2025

Notification schedule

Dealer notification

May 18, 2026 - May 18, 2026 No Dealers

Owner notification

May 18, 2026 - May 18, 2026 Phased Recall