For enhanced safety, the front and middle seat shoulder belts of the Subaru Ascent have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Hyundai Palisade doesn’t offer pretensioners for the middle seat belts.
The Ascent has standard Whiplash-Reducing Front Seats, which use a specially designed seat to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Whiplash-Reducing Front Seats system allows the backrest to travel backwards to cushion the occupants and the headrests move forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Palisade doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Ascent. But it costs extra on the Palisade.
Both the Ascent and the Palisade have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Subaru Ascent is safer than the Hyundai Palisade:
|
Ascent |
Palisade |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Compression |
8 lbs. |
42 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
210 |
333 |
Neck Injury Risk |
33% |
35% |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
35/30 lbs. |
351/306 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 Subaru Ascent is safer than the Hyundai Palisade:
|
Ascent |
Palisade |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.7 inches |
Abdominal Force |
73 G’s |
113 G’s |
Hip Force |
274 lbs. |
303 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
81 |
189 |
Spine Acceleration |
27 G’s |
36 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
149 |
223 |
Hip Force |
637 lbs. |
724 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.