Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and Trax 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 Trax’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 the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Santa Fe Hybrid are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The Trax doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Santa Fe Hybrid has standard Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, which use forward mounted sensors to warn the driver of a possible collision ahead. If the driver doesn’t react and the system determines a collision is imminent, it automatically applies the brakes at full-force in order to reduce the force of the crash or avoid it altogether. The Trax doesn't offer collision warning or crash mitigation brakes.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Santa Fe Hybrid Limited has standard Parking Collision Avoidance Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Trax doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Santa Fe Hybrid. But it costs extra on the Trax.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Santa Fe Hybrid’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The Trax doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The Santa Fe Hybrid’s lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. The Trax doesn’t offer a lane departure warning system.
The Santa Fe Hybrid offers an optional Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Trax only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.
The Santa Fe Hybrid has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the Trax’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe Hybrid has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Chevrolet charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Trax, and only on the LT and the Trax’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
The Santa Fe Hybrid’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Trax doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and the Trax have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights and rearview cameras.
The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid weighs 786 to 1103 pounds more than the Chevrolet Trax. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
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 Chevrolet Trax:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
Trax |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
16% |
26% |
Neck Stress |
149 lbs. |
298 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
50/51 lbs. |
363/313 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
27% |
38% |
Neck Stress |
99 lbs. |
122 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
89 lbs. |
104 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
222/167 lbs. |
249/289 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 Chevrolet Trax:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
Trax |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
61 |
73 |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
14 inches |
14 inches |
HIC |
376 |
382 |
Spine Acceleration |
44 G’s |
46 G’s |
Hip Force |
576 lbs. |
707 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Santa Fe Hybrid is 3.2% to 5.1% less likely to roll over than the Trax.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Santa Fe Hybrid its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 126 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Trax last would have qualified as only a “Top Safety Pick” in 2016.