Key facts
- NHTSA campaign: 26V394000 (GM's internal/manufacturer number is N262555780 — a separate reference, not a second NHTSA code).
- Vehicle: Cadillac Vistiq, three-row battery-electric SUV.
- Units: 14,540 total — 13,629 MY2026 + 911 MY2027. This is effectively all Vistiqs built to date; the filing does not carve the recall out by trim.
- Component: Third-row power-fold seat module (NHTSA code SEATS: MID/REAR ASSEMBLY: POWER ADJUST).
- Defect: When the power-fold feature is activated, the third-row seatback may fail to reverse when it encounters a person or obstruction.
- Risk: A person, especially a child, may be trapped by the rear powered seatback, increasing injury risk. GM documented six related incidents (May 2025–June 2026) with no reported injuries.
- Interim remedy: Dealers disable the one-touch third-row power-fold feature on both sold and dealer-lot vehicles until parts are available.
- Permanent remedy: Hardware — replacement of the third-row power-fold seat module with a corrected unit. This is not a software or calibration update.
- Dates: GM stop-shipment on MY2027 issued June 8, 2026; NHTSA received GM's Part 573 report June 18, 2026; the recall led the July 6, 2026 news cycle; interim owner letters expected by August 3, 2026.
- Owner line: Cadillac customer service, 1-800-333-4223.
Which Cadillac Vistiqs are recalled, and how many?
NHTSA campaign 26V394000 covers 14,540 Cadillac Vistiq SUVs across model years 2026 and 2027. Because the Vistiq is a brand-new, low-volume nameplate, that count represents essentially every unit built so far. GM's Part 573 report does not restrict the recall by trim, so all power-fold-third-row-equipped Vistiqs in the 2026–2027 build window are covered.
| Model | Model Year | Body / Powertrain | Units Recalled | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadillac Vistiq | 2026 | 3-row battery-electric SUV | 13,629 | Bulk of the recall population |
| Cadillac Vistiq | 2027 (early build) | 3-row battery-electric SUV | 911 | Stop-shipment issued June 8, 2026 |
| Total | 2026–2027 | 14,540 | Effectively all Vistiqs built to date; no trim carve-out in the filing |
Precise VIN and build-date ranges live in the Part 573 report itself and were not published in news coverage. Note also that some MY2027 units may have been held at ports or dealers under the June 8 stop-shipment, so not all 911 necessarily reached retail — a factor in how many appear on the used market.
What exactly is the danger to my child?
When the Vistiq's one-touch power-fold feature is activated, the third-row seatback may fail to reverse when it encounters a person or object in its path. NHTSA's summary states plainly that "a person, especially a child, may be trapped by a rear powered seatback, increasing their risk of injury." The hazard is insufficient obstruction sensing: the seat can keep folding — or stop in a position it will not release from — rather than backing off.
Per GM's filing as reported by Jalopnik, a GM engineer found the seatback would continue folding with a 33-to-40-pound box on the seat and stop in a position that prevented removal without manually reversing. GM documented six related incidents in the reporting window (May 2025–June 2026) with no injuries reported on the Vistiq. Treat this strictly as a pinch and entrapment risk, not a record of harm.
For context, GM's internal Vistiq investigation was spurred by a fatal Hyundai Palisade power-folding-seat incident, in which a two-year-old child died after being trapped in a rear seat — the same class of failure that drove Hyundai and Kia Telluride recalls. As Yahoo/The Drive notes, there is no federal motor-vehicle safety standard requiring power-folding seatbacks to sense and reverse on obstruction (unlike FMVSS 118 for power windows), so automakers set their own thresholds and are finding failures recall by recall.
Is the fix a software update or a hardware repair?
The permanent remedy is a hardware fix: replacement of the third-row power-fold seat module with a corrected unit that reverses on obstruction. It is not a software flash, over-the-air update, or calibration change. Yahoo/The Drive explicitly contrasts Cadillac's hardware swap with Hyundai's software-fixable version of the same problem.
As an interim measure while corrected parts are prepared, dealers disable the one-touch third-row power-fold feature entirely — on both customer-owned vehicles and dealer-lot inventory. Parts availability for the permanent seat-module replacement was described as pending during the July news cycle and is not independently confirmed here, so a used Vistiq you look at today may have the power-fold disabled but not yet the module replaced.
Was the recall already fixed on this used Vistiq?
You cannot assume so, and no VIN history product can confirm it for you. A VIN check reports whether a recall is present on a VIN and how many recalls the VIN carries, mirroring the presence signal in NHTSA's free tool. It does not report whether the seat-module repair was actually performed.
To confirm open-versus-remedied status on a specific Vistiq, use NHTSA's free VIN lookup at nhtsa.gov/recalls, check the GM/Cadillac owner portal at my.cadillac.com/recalls, or call Cadillac customer service at 1-800-333-4223. Ask specifically whether 26V394000 shows as completed, and whether the car received only the interim power-fold disable or the full seat-module replacement.
What a VIN check can and can't tell you here
Because the Vistiq is so new and so few exist, the differentiated value of a VIN history report is in vetting the individual car's past — a wrecked, salvaged, or bought-back unit is a genuine risk in a nameplate this small. Use the VIN check to screen for recall presence and to inspect history; cede the "was the seat fix performed" question to NHTSA or a dealer.
| Question | Zilocar VIN check | Where to confirm instead |
|---|---|---|
| Does this Vistiq carry recall 26V394000? | Yes — shows recall presence and total recall count | Cross-check at nhtsa.gov/recalls |
| Was the seat-module recall actually remedied? | No | NHTSA VIN lookup or Cadillac dealer (1-800-333-4223) |
| Is there an open NHTSA investigation? | No — not tracked (none applies here; this is a filed recall) | nhtsa.gov |
| Per-unit dealer firmware/seat-module repair detail | No | Cadillac dealer / GM owner portal |
| Legal title-brand classification | No — shows junk/salvage auction records, not the title brand itself | State DMV / title document |
| Accident & damage, incl. airbag-deployment status | Yes | — |
| Junk & salvage auction records | Yes | — |
| Odometer / rollback check | Yes | — |
| Theft record (NICB) | Yes | — |
| Ownership history | Yes | — |
| Sales-listing history (prices, mileage, days-on-market) | Yes | — |
| Specs, options, NHTSA + IIHS safety ratings, valuation | Yes | — |
One caution on ratings: given how new the Vistiq is, published IIHS and NHTSA crash-test results may be limited, so don't expect a full ratings history for every VIN.
If you want one place to screen for open-recall presence and pull the car's accident, airbag-deployment, salvage-auction, odometer, theft, ownership, and sales-listing history before you commit, a Zilocar VIN check covers that in a single report — while you confirm the seat recall's remedy status directly with NHTSA or a Cadillac dealer.
