Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and Pathfinder have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Santa Fe Hybrid has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Pathfinder’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - for its performance in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, demonstrating its excellent capabilities in preventing collisions. The Nissan Pathfinder has not been tested.
Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and Pathfinder have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Santa Fe Hybrid has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Pathfinder’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and the Pathfinder have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid is safer than the Nissan Pathfinder:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
Pathfinder |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
28% |
31% |
Neck Stress |
273 lbs. |
348 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
33 lbs. |
53 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.6 inches |
.6 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
32.5% |
45.1% |
Neck Stress |
105 lbs. |
216 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid is safer than the Nissan Pathfinder:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
Pathfinder |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
21 |
84 |
Chest Movement |
.6 inches |
.9 inches |
Abdominal Force |
85 lbs. |
138 lbs. |
Hip Force |
203 lbs. |
244 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
60 |
88 |
Spine Acceleration |
32 G’s |
33 G’s |
Hip Force |
264 lbs. |
461 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
155 |
234 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.