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A 2-year-old Ohio girl suffocated to death in a “freak accident” when the power seat of her parents’ Hyundai SUV suddenly folded down and crushed her, according to officials.
Lucia Ayala died from mechanical asphyxiation while inside the 2026 Hyundai Palisade with her mother and sibling at an Akron parking lot on March 7 — with disturbing bodycam footage capturing the heartbreaking scenes as first responders tried in vain to help.
Hyundai soon announced it was stopping the sale of its 2026 Palisades Limited and Calligraphy trims and recalling about 70,000 SUVs after the “tragic incident.”
The unthinkable accident came as Ayala’s “dad was doing some shopping, and they wanted to allow the children the room to just roam and play around in the car,” Akron police Lt. Michael Murphy told News 5 Cleveland.
“But at some point — we’re not certain of how this happened — that button that releases the seat went down, and the child was trapped.”
Bodycam footage showed the chaos of first responders trying to help, with Lucia’s father attempting to explain to the officer the trouble he had with the seat.
“Right now, I’m trying to put it up,” he said. “It’s not working. I don’t know because we pulled it up so hard or something.”
“It’s one of those things where it’s really a freak accident where, however, the button was pressed, it went down and essentially crushed the child,” Lt. Murphy told the Daily Mail.
The crushed girl died at the hospital, the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office told The Post.
The medical examiner determined that Ayala suffocated due to an external force, and ruled the death an accident, the ME’s chief investigator, Gary Guenther, said.
Lucia was a “spunky, energetic little goofball whose personality filled every room she entered,” an obituary said.
She could go “from being wild & silly to being the sweetest angel in the blink of an eye,” the obit also states, adding: “She was constantly moving, snacking on everything, giving the cheesiest smile.”
Hyundai announced days after the death that it was stopping the sale of its 2026 Palisades Limited and Calligraphy trims in the US and Canada because of an “issue with the second and third-row power seats.”
“In certain situations, those seats may not adequately detect contact with an occupant or object as intended,” the company said in a press release while addressing Lucia’s death.
“Hyundai is aware of a tragic incident involving a Palisade,” the automaker wrote.
“While Hyundai does not yet have the full details and the incident is still under investigation, a young child lost her life. Hyundai extends its deepest sympathies to her family.”
Hyundai also said at the time it was planning to recall about 70,000 SUVs with a rental car available for affected owners.
The Post has sought comment from Hyundai.
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