Safety-Critical Shifter System Malfunction - I am experiencing a recurring and serious shift system defect with my 2026 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy. The issue first occurred within the first 500 miles of ownership, shortly after purchasing the vehicle new. At that time, the vehicle required diagnosis and repair by the dealership and remained out of service for nearly one month. Despite that repair, the same or a very similar issue has now returned. The vehicle displays a "Shifter System Malfunction – Service Immediately" warning and does not allow me to change gears while the vehicle is running. The gear selector becomes unresponsive, and the only way to restore functionality is to shut the vehicle off and restart it. After restarting, the vehicle often engages with a loud thud/clunk and significant vibration that can be felt throughout the vehicle. This creates serious concerns about the safety, reliability, and overall integrity of the drivetrain and shift-by-wire system.
2026 Hyundai Palisade transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 17 of 17, newest first, as owners wrote them.
We lease a 2026 Palisade with only 4k miles. Several weeks ago I was going through a toll plaza, car would not accelerate after slowing down, as if it was in neutral. All of a sudden it kicked into gear and car lunged forward. 10 min later at a traffic light car failed to accelerate after a complete stop. Press the accelerator sluggish response, then kicked back into gear. Very Scary. I pulled over and notified the dealer. Then set an appoint. Dealer did a diagnostic, found no issues, could not replicate problem on test drive . Everything was fine a few weeks. My son took the car. Had the same exact issue with vehicle not accelerating. Then kicked into gear really hard and vibrating. This was scary for him because he was in a parking lot. Luckily there was no accident as a result. However, this time an error code (check engine light) came on and the Hyundai app showed a DTC CODE- P001600 (powertrain / engine). Car was immediately taken to dealer on May 28th 2026. It is now Jun 11th. Still no time frame for fix. The THINK it a software issue and Hyundai is still "working" on a solution.
2026 Hyundai Palisade SEL 8P AWD. Brake pedal sinks to floor when depressed while vehicle is in motion, causing vehicle to glide before stopping. Defect first noticed June 1, 2026 and confirmed June 2, 2026 at approximately 530 miles during a 34-mile round trip with consistent repeated occurrence at both low and moderate speeds. Vehicle returned to dealership for diagnosis. Dealership declared unable to duplicate. No diagnostic trouble codes found. Hyundai engineering was consulted by dealership. This is a second serious defect on this vehicle — a full transmission assembly replacement was performed under warranty in May 2026 within 4 days of delivery and approximately 259 miles of personal use. Hyundai Motor America lemon law re-evaluation currently in progress.
I have the video BUT I AM UNSURE how to upload or share Incident Description: The vehicle is experiencing intermittent, complete engine stalls while in motion at highway speeds. The failure has occurred four times. Initial Symptom: The issue first manifested as "stuttering" and erratic behavior from the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which I thought it was. Escalation: The vehicle has since progressed to a total loss of power. During these incidents, I was forced to pull over on high-speed corridors (Hwy 46 and Hwy 5) to restart the vehicle. Recurring Pattern: Most recently, after a stall and restart, the vehicle stalled again within a few blocks. I have captured video evidence of the stall occurring immediately after the vehicle was "reset" and put back into motion. Safety Concern: This is a life-threatening defect. The vehicle loses propulsion without warning in high-speed traffic. The manufacturer’s service department (Hyundai) has been unable to identify a diagnostic fault code, citing "No Problem Found," and has only attempted a software/values reset, which has failed to correct the physical stalling.
After 4 days of parking in the garage due to my travel , when came back and tried to start the car it was completely dead. Couldn’t do anything so Hyundai road assistance cane and had to jumpstart the car . Since then dash cam is not working at all and also car is having wierd sound. Hybrid system is just giving me only 15GPM but the car should have around 29 -30 MPG. Car is very new bought in oct 28th 2025. And only gave 225 miles. I am worried if if the battery is working
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I purchased a new 2026 palisade on 8/30/2025. The day after I purchased it I started noticing the car jumping/bucking/hesitating to get up to speed, also it jumps and jolts around different speeds. I brought the car back to the dealership 2 days later for them to look at it. After explaining the problem they drove the car by a tech and also the service manager, with the car being so new. After review of the car, the service person told us verbally that the service manager did feel some hesitation in the car but that the car was so new that it is most likely caused by TAP tables (the car learning how a driver drives). After 30 days of the driving the car, it did not get better, only worse. I brought the car back to the dealership on 9/29 again to have them look at it. They first told me nothing was wrong and that the car just "rode rough" . The service person i was dealing with asked for us to drive in the car together so I could point out what I was feeling when I drove it. While he was driving I could feel the hesitation even in the passenger seat. I pointed it out everytime I felt it, to which he confirmed he felt as well. After the test drive, he allowed me to drive a similar model closest to mine. While I drove that vehicle, I felt that same exact feeling I was feeling in mine. He recommended that I file a formal complaint and that he would send all the information into the warranty department. He also stated during the drive that the new Santa Fe, when they were first released had a similar issue and that they finally release a software update to resolve the issue with the trans and that may also be the case with the new palisade as well. My advice to anyone buying this car, during the test drive make sure you request to take this on the highway and get it in the range of 65-75mph and keep it idle at 70 for a bit and make sure you dont get stuck with the same problem! My previous vehicle had a transmission issue and this is exact same feeling in the Palisade
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