The Cadillac Vistiq’s power-folding third row is the culprit of this latest recall campaign.
Particularly in premium SUVs, power-folding seats are a nearly universal convenience, but some vehicles are having issues. That includes the 2026-2027 Cadillac Vistiq, which is now under a recall and stop-sale for third-row seats that can be commanded to power fold into their stowed position, stop when they detect an obstacle, then fail to automatically reverse back into the upright position. If that happens, rear occupants can be trapped by the seats, creating a serious safety hazard.
The recall (GM recall N262555780, NHTSA recall 26V-394) affects 14,540 examples of the electric Cadillac Vistiq, or all models sold or in U.S. dealer inventory to-date. Since General Motors just kicked off 2027 model production, only 911 of that year’s Vistiqs are in this recall. For the moment, this largely impacts the debut 2026 model, with 13,629 of those units needing repair.
While GM doesn’t mention the automaker by name, it did evaluate how the Vistiq’s power-folding third-row behaves after a similar — and tragically fatal — issue emerged with the 2026 Hyundai Palisade. Hyundai recalled certain versions of their popular family SUV after the power-folding seats were blamed for a two-year-old child’s death. In its own investigation, GM determined the Vistiq’s seats prevented a 33- to 40-pound box from being removed after the seats were folded down toward the stowed position. Short of manually reversing the seat back, the power-folding row would just stick in the same position, potentially trapping a small child or other rear seat occupant if someone doesn’t intervene to fold the seat back into its upright state.
What’s the fix?
To-date, GM says it is aware of 6 “incidents or complaints” related to this condition, but no injuries. Nevertheless, it will ask owners to bring their cars into the dealer after August 3 to have a temporary remedy done. Dealers have already been notified of the issue as of June 18. For now, the company’s plan (per a technical service bulletin; clicking the link may download a PDF file) is to disable the power-folding third-row feature altogether.
Eventually, the automaker will ship out replacement parts to permanently sort the problem, where the new component will automatically return the seatback to an upright position if it encounters resistance — either a person or object — sufficient enough to halt the folding operation. At this point, it’s unclear when those new parts will be available, so owners will lose out on having a power-folding rear seat for the foreseeable future should they take their vehicle in for the repair.
GM says it will provide an estimate to safety regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of an available remedy “when one is available”.
Under federal law, dealers are also barred from selling new or used vehicles with a known safety defect, until it is fixed. GM says it halted 2027 Cadillac Vistiq production on June 8 while it addresses the problem, and those already out in dealer inventory are under stop-sale until at least the interim repair disabling the third-row is carried out.
If you own a 2026-27 Cadillac Vistiq and are concerned about getting the repair work done, your vehicle will be fixed under warranty (even if it wasn’t, recall repairs are completed free of charge).
