Hyundai is pulling back a huge batch of its flagship family SUV after regulators flagged a problem with the way its side airbags protect people in the way back. Faulty components have triggered a recall covering 568,676 Hyundai Palisades, a sweeping move that hits one of the most popular three-row crossovers on the road. For owners who count on those third-row seats for kids, grandparents, and carpool duty, the issue cuts right to the core promise of a modern family hauler: that every row is equally protected.
The recall centers on side curtain airbags that may not shield third-row passengers as intended in certain crashes, raising questions about how a vehicle marketed as a safe, award-winning family shuttle ended up with a gap in its safety net. Regulators and the company say fixes are coming at no cost, but until those repairs are done, Palisade drivers are left weighing how and when they use that back row.
What Went Wrong With The Palisade’s Airbags
At the heart of the recall is how the side curtain airbags behave when a Palisade takes a hit from the side. Testing found that the side airbags for third-row occupants may not provide sufficient protection during specific impact scenarios, leaving people in that last row more exposed than safety rules allow. That shortfall is serious enough that safety advocates, including Senior Auto reporter Keith Barry, have zeroed in on the problem as a textbook case of why crash standards exist in the first place.
The scale of the fix is enormous. The campaign covers about 569,000 SUVs in the United States, with Hyundai Motor specifying that 568,576 Palisade SU models are affected. Other reports peg the total at 568,000 vehicles, while federal filings describe “nearly 569,000” Palisade SUVs. However one slices the math, it is a recall that touches almost every corner of the Palisade ownership base.
How Regulators And Hyundai Responded
Federal safety officials were the first to formally put the problem on paper. According to a notice from the National Highway Traffic, the side curtain airbags in certain Hyundai SUVs may not deploy properly to protect third-row occupants, a defect that pushed the agency to treat the issue as a noncompliance with federal crash standards. That formal finding is what turned an internal engineering concern into a public recall that owners can track by VIN and remedy at a dealership.
Hyundai’s own language underscores how sensitive the company is to the optics. The automaker has told regulators it is recalling about 570,000 Palisades as a noncompliance campaign, which means the fix is free even if a vehicle’s warranty has expired. Company documents describe how Hyundai Is Still the root cause after federal regulators flagged the issue, a reminder that the engineering postmortem is still unfolding even as dealers prepare to update or replace parts.
What Owners Of Affected SUVs Should Do Now
For drivers, the recall is less about regulatory language and more about day to day decisions. Owners of a Hyundai Palisade from the affected model years are being told to schedule a visit with their dealer so technicians can address the side curtain airbag performance in the third row. Guidance from safety advocates suggests that families who can temporarily avoid seating passengers in that last row during high speed highway trips may want to do so until the repair is complete, especially if they regularly carry children in those seats. The recall notice makes clear that the concern is specific to certain side impacts, but that is exactly the kind of crash scenario that can unfold without warning.
Hyundai is trying to get ahead of owner anxiety by leaning on the Palisade’s strong reputation and by promising a straightforward fix. The 2026 Hyundai Palisade has already been touted as a Best Family Car its blend of comfort and safety tech, and the company is now racing to make sure the hardware lives up to the marketing. Reports describe this as Hyundai’s first major recall of 2026 and note that affected family haulers include a wide range of model years, with owners urged to plug their vehicle identification number into recall tools to confirm whether their SUV is covered and to book service promptly.
The recall also lands at an awkward moment for Hyundai’s broader brand story. Writer Tom Murphy has pointed out that if someone bought an all new second generation 2026 Hyundai Palisade or a model year 2025 Palisade, they could now be part of a safety campaign that touches 568,676 vehicles, a jarring statistic for shoppers who just drove a fresh SUV off the lot. Another report notes that Hyundai Is Recalling over 568,000 Palisade Family SUVs for the Second Time, underscoring how repeat recalls can chip away at consumer trust even when fixes are handled quickly and at no cost.
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