Hyundai recalls 58,000 Palisade SUVs in South Korea due to automatic seat problem

SEOUL, March 24 (Reuters) – South Korea’s transport ministry announced on Tuesday the recall of 58,000 Hyundai Motor Palisade hybrid sport utility vehicles nationwide over safety concerns, following a fatal accident in the United States earlier this month.

Hyundai stopped sales of some high-end versions of its new Palisade SUVs and recalled 68,500 new Palisade SUVs in the United States and Canada after a two-year-old girl in Ohio died on March 7. Local media reports said the automatic seat collapsed on the child sitting in the third row of a Palisade SUV. Hyundai has said it is investigating what happened.

On Monday, Hyundai reported that two passengers of Palisade SUVs in South Korea had been injured in October and December last year possibly due to a problem with the automatic seats.

That came after the automaker reported to the U.S. safety regulator last week four injuries in the United States linked to the power seat issue.

South Korea’s transport ministry said the Palisade’s second- and third-row seats failed to detect contact with occupants or objects due to inadequate software design in the seat controllers, posing safety risks.

On Friday, Hyundai started offering software updates to address safety concerns as an interim step, the transport ministry said, adding that Hyundai is considering additional measures to enhance safety.  

Palisade was Hyundai’s top-selling SUV in South Korea last year. Meritz Securities said in a report that should the recall involve hardware replacement, it would cost the automaker about 100 billion won ($66.08 million), adding the automaker could face potential class-action lawsuits and punitive damage claims.   

Under the software update, Hyundai Motor will make it easier to turn off the automatic-folding function, with a single switch operation. Previously, a person needed to turn the car off and back on before disabling the power seat feature.  

The update will also restrict activation of the power seat function to when the tailgate is open. 

($1 = 1,513.3000 won)

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Susan Fenton)