2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9 Recall: Power Rear Seats May Trap a Person

The second-row power seats in 5,360 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9 SUVs with the Limited, Calligraphy or Calligraphy Design trim can keep moving after they touch a person during the automatic fold-and-stow function. Hyundai Motor America filed campaign 26V588 with NHTSA on September 10, 2026 and amended it on September 16. As of the September 2 decision to recall, the company knew of five consumer complaints in the U.S., two of them alleging minor injuries.

Until the seat software is updated, the filing asks owners to make sure that occupants, especially children, are not in the seat or the seat-folding area while the second-row power-folding functions run, and NHTSA's remedy summary advises that children not be in the rear seats or near the rear seating area during power-folding operation.

The fix is a software update to the seat control units, delivered over the air to vehicles with an active Bluelink account or installed at an Ioniq-certified Hyundai dealer. Hyundai's number for the recall is 307.

The Issue

On these three trims the second row of the electric SUV folds and stows under power, from switches on the seats and from buttons in the cargo area, and the seat logic is meant to recognize contact with an occupant or object. The cause statement on the Part 573 report reads, in full: "In certain situations, the current 2nd row power seat logic may not detect contact with an occupant or object as intended." The report does not identify a faulty part.

Two components are listed, the left and right second-row power seat units, part numbers 891P8-TD000 and 892P8-TD000, from TSA, a Tier 2 supplier in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Hyundai describes the remedy software as revised logic for the rear power seat anti-pinch protection. After the update, the seat-folding buttons in the cargo area do not operate while the tailgate is closed or while the seat belt for that seat is buckled; before it, they worked in either state.

Dealers follow TSB 26-01-075H, which flashes three seat control modules in a set order: GDS event 1490 for the module the bulletin labels PFSU, part 891P9-TD000, whose update is titled "3RD Fold/UnFold Operation Condition change," then event 1486 for the rear-left unit and event 1487 for the rear-right. Only the two second-row units appear as involved components on the Part 573 report, whose chronology says third-row seats tested below the force limits.

Both FMVSS fields on the report are blank, so the campaign is filed as a safety defect rather than a failure to meet a federal standard.

Affected Models

Model	Model year	Trims	Production dates	Units
Hyundai Ioniq 9	2026	Limited, Calligraphy, Calligraphy Design	Mar 17, 2025 - May 4, 2026	5,360

Assembly was at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, and the VINs carry the prefix 7YA. Hyundai's filing covers "certain" vehicles with those three trims, estimates that 100% of the 5,360 have the condition, and names no other trim. Seat control software with the revised logic went into production on September 3, 2026, the day after the recall decision.

Chronology and Investigation

Hyundai's filed chronology opens with a benchmarking study. On March 10, 2026, its North America Safety Office received preliminary cross-model results from its Safety Testing and Investigation Laboratory on how second- and third-row seats behave during automatic power folding; no field report appears before that date. Between March 26 and April 2 the safety office, the lab and an independent third-party engineering firm met to review those results and plan further testing.

On April 22 the safety office and the engineering firm ran subjective evaluations of seat operation across multiple vehicle models, and the firm began developing biomechanical test methods and limits for anti-pinch performance. From May 28 to June 3 the two reviewed preliminary biomechanical results and agreed to build a dedicated test device. Fixture development finished July 8 through 10, when the firm began preliminary validation.

Fixture benchmark testing across multiple vehicle models ran at the lab from August 4 through 6. On August 14, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation met with the safety office to review the background, the method and the status of the work. Force measurements during operation of certain second-row power folding and stow seat systems came in above the limits the safety office and the firm had set; third-row systems tested below them.

On September 2 the safety office convened its decision body, which the filing calls NASDA, and decided to recall the 2026 Ioniq 9 in the U.S. Hyundai submitted the Part 573 report on September 10. Dealers received TSB 26-01-075H and a stop-sale notice on September 11, VINs became searchable on NHTSA.gov on September 12, and NHTSA acknowledged the recall on September 17.

Amendment 1, submitted September 16, added the words "including the automatic power-folding (stow) function" to the defect description and reordered the three remedy types. Population, chronology, complaint count and schedule are identical in both versions.

Reported Incidents

As of September 2, Hyundai was aware of five consumer complaints of the condition in the U.S., including two alleged minor injuries, and of no crashes or fires. Dates on the five complaints run June 4, 2025; February 13, 2026; March 17, 2026; May 29, 2026; and August 3, 2026, each tied to a partial VIN. The report does not say which two carry the injury allegations, and it gives no warranty-claim count. Nine months separate the first complaint from the benchmarking study that opens the chronology.

Remedy and Notification

Technicians inspect the seat controller software version and update the logic for the rear power seat functions, and vehicles whose owners have opted in through Bluelink get the same update over the air. Either route is free whether or not the vehicle is still under Hyundai's new-vehicle warranty, and an owner who paid for a related repair can claim reimbursement under the general plan filed with NHTSA on March 2, 2026.

On the over-the-air path the download runs in the background, and an "Update Start" pop-up appears when the vehicle is switched off after a drive of more than 30 minutes. From there the owner letter puts the average install at 5 minutes, during which the vehicle cannot be driven. For that pop-up to appear, the dealer bulletin says, the driver's door must be closed and the battery at 68% charge or higher, and a third-party device plugged into the OBD port can block the update, according to the infotainment notice. Bluelink is free to the first owner, and an owner without an account can create one or go to a dealer instead.

Dealer work is restricted to Ioniq-certified Hyundai dealers, the dealer notice recommends a technician at Hyundai Specialist level or higher, and the stop-sale notice recommends Mobile Service where a dealer offers it. Owners may keep driving, the dealer notice says, and its scripts have service advisers offer a loaner or other transportation at no cost to an owner who is not comfortable doing so until the update is in. Federal law bars dealers from delivering a new vehicle with the recall open; the September 11 stop-sale notice counted 17 affected vehicles in dealer stock, and a hold was placed on vehicles at ports.

NHTSA's recall record says owner letters were expected to mail on October 1, 2026. Both versions of the Part 573 report and the agency's September 17 acknowledgment letter give November 9 as the owner notification date. NHTSA posted a copy of the owner letter to the campaign's document list on October 10 under the heading "Remedy Owner Notification Letter - Mailed," with its date left as a placeholder. Hyundai customer service is at 1-855-371-9460.

Symptoms to Watch For

Under warnings, the report says only that the second-row power functions require the operator to activate them with the seat control switches, so the hazard begins with a button press.

A seat that continues its fold after meeting resistance. That is the defect as filed, and the report quotes none of the five complaints that describe it.

Cargo-area fold buttons that work with the tailgate closed or a belt buckled. That is the pre-update behavior in the bulletin's before-and-after table. A vehicle on the new logic ignores those buttons while the tailgate is closed or the belt for that seat is buckled, which is one way to confirm the update took.

A "What's New, Update is Complete" screen. That is the screen dealers photograph to close an over-the-air claim; an owner who has seen it is on the new logic.

How Long Will the Recall Repair Take?

Over the air, the owner letter gives an average of 5 minutes to install; the bulletin's step for the same install says approximately 1 minute. At a dealer, Hyundai pays 0.3 hour of labor when the technician finds the update downloaded and installs it from the screen, and 0.5 hour when it is not available and the three modules are flashed with the GDS tool, with a battery charger connected for the duration. A dealer visit takes less than an hour, per the owner letter. Remedy types on the filing are inspect, software and software OTA; no part is replaced.

Bottom Line

Because the seat moves only when someone presses a switch, the interim control is on the person pressing it. Before folding or stowing a second-row seat, from the seat switches or the cargo-area buttons, look at the seat and the space it folds into, and keep children out of the rear seats and away from the rear seating area while it moves. An owner with an active Bluelink account can check for the update now by holding the SETUP button with the ignition on until the Software Info/Update screen appears, as the bulletin describes; a downloaded update installs at the next shutdown. An owner without Bluelink can book an Ioniq-certified dealer at 1-855-371-9460 or through www.hyundaiusa.com/campaignhome, and any 2026 Ioniq 9 VIN has been checkable on NHTSA.gov since September 12.

Find your Hyundai Ioniq 9 recall information: https://www.hyundaiusa.com/campaignhome

Hyundai's own cross-model benchmarking of power-folding seats, begun in March 2026 with a third-party engineering firm and a purpose-built force fixture, found second-row fold-and-stow forces on the Ioniq 9 above the limits the two had set, and the company decided on the recall on September 2, 2026. Five U.S. consumer complaints, two alleging minor injuries, were on file at that date. Seat control software is the remedy, over the air through Bluelink or at an Ioniq-certified dealer, and the filed interim advice is to keep occupants, especially children, out of the seat and the folding area while the seats move.

This is the second power-folding seat entrapment recall on this site in 2026, after the Cadillac Vistiq third-row seatback campaign 26V394 (14,540 units), and the second anti-pinch software recall after the Cadillac Optiq power-window campaign 26V612. The Optiq was filed as a noncompliance with FMVSS 118, which governs power windows; the Ioniq 9 filing leaves the FMVSS fields blank. On the 26V588 report, the Related NHTSA Recall Number field is blank.