There’s a particular kind of corporate negligence that looks like a closed support ticket. It sounds like “our inspection found no defect”. And sometimes, it ends with a two-year-old girl trapped under a folding seat in a parked SUV in Akron, Ohio. Ashley Groussman, a California woman, bought a Hyundai Palisade and discovered its danger on day one.
A third-row passenger accidentally hit a button, the second-row seat folded forward, and pinned her daughter, without stopping. “She started screaming, I turned around and literally pulled her out”. That same day, she began contacting Hyundai. She called it “urgent”. She said it directly affected passenger safety. She posted on social media. She did everything short of skywriting it over Hyundai’s US headquarters.
Hyundai’s response? An inspection that found the system working as intended, and a closed case. Six months later, a 2026 Palisade parked in Ohio became the scene of a child’s death. A two-year-old became trapped when the electric rear seat folded onto her. Bystanders tried to release the mechanism. They couldn’t. “There were attempts to disengage the seat, but they were unable to do so for quite some time”, said Lt. Michael Murphy. That delay proved fatal.
When Groussman heard the news, she said her heart broke. It should. So should Hyundai’s, though corporations aren’t generally equipped for that particular function.
In the aftermath, Hyundai acknowledged that “some customers” had raised concerns about seat behavior. The company says it continuously reviews feedback as part of its safety process. What it apparently does not do is act on it with any particular urgency.
Following media inquiries and the Ohio tragedy, Hyundai suspended sales of certain 2026 Palisade trims and issued a recall covering roughly 68,500 vehicles in the US and Canada. The issue, rear power seats that may trap occupants. A software update is being rolled out as a temporary fix, with a permanent solution still in development. As for Groussman, Hyundai has now agreed to buy back her vehicle, the exact resolution she had been requesting for months, apparently available all along, just pending a fatality to unlock it.
