Cadillac is recalling every Vistiq electric crossover it’s ever sold in the U.S. — all 14,540 of them built for the 2026 and 2027 model years — because of an issue General Motors’ engineers discovered with its power-folding third-row seats. Paperwork filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says GM found that the third row of seats could potentially trap and injure occupants, a similar defect that led to a recall and stop sale after a 2-year-old was crushed by the power-folding rear seats of a Hyundai Palisade in March.
That horrific incident likely caused an engineer to see if the Vistiq’s third row had the same issue, and it turned out that it did. GM cited “a recall by a different vehicle manufacturer,” as its reasoning for the test, and it doesn’t it take much of a leap of faith to guess which one. (Top versions of the Kia Telluride were also recalled for the same problem.) At the end of March, the engineer reported their findings through GM’s Speak Up For Safety (SUFS) program. Here’s what GM found, according to NHTSA:
During the evaluation, the seatback continued its power-folding operation with a 33- to 40-pound box on the seat and stopped in a position that prevented the box from being removed without manually reversing the seat back.
The General says it’s aware of six other incidents or complaints that are potentially associated with this power-folding seat issue, but luckily, none have resulted in an injury. They were received by GM between May of 2025 and June of 2026.
The fix
So far, the automaker hasn’t been able to cook up a final remedy, so until they do, dealers will disable the power-folding mechanism. Basically, vehicles in dealership inventory and owners who wish to do so can have their third-row folding feature disabled, which makes it sound like they’ll either be put in the up or down position until the true remedy can be administered.
That remedy involves replacing the Vistiq’s folding seat module with one that will automatically return the seat to its upright position if the seatback senses enough resistance to stop it. Dealers have already been notified of the issue, and interim owner notification letters are expected to be mailed in early August.
It’ll be interesting to see if similar recalls from other manufacturers pop up in the coming months, as there are many other vehicles with power-folding seats in the second and third rows. Time will certainly tell, and hopefully new regulations and safety systems for seats like these will be introduced before anyone else is injured.
