The Service Center indicated that the issue revolves around the sensor firmware. In my case, I was backing the car from one driveway to one across the street and I hadn't buckled up. When I shifted from R to D the car's seat weight sensor was ignored and therefore assumed the unbuckled driver wasn't there resulting in an emergency brake being applied. Firmware is going to be adjusted. That's their story and they're sticking to it.
Oh man. This explains a lot. When I had the rental last month I was doing this exact thing. I was backing out of the garage into the driveway w/o seatbelt when all of the sudden the car slammed on the brakes and the seat/steering wheel memory reverted to easy exit mode. I was so confused. Tapped the card on the console, put it back into reverse and then it did the same thing again.
Fortunately it didn't damage anything that i'm aware. That needs to be fixed ASAP though.