Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and Eclipse Cross 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 Eclipse Cross’ 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 Eclipse Cross doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
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 Eclipse Cross doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Santa Fe Hybrid’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The Eclipse Cross doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
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. Only the Eclipse Cross SE/SEL offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert and the Eclipse Cross’ 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 Eclipse Cross doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and the Eclipse Cross have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and available around view monitors.
The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid weighs 573 to 799 pounds more than the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. 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 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
Eclipse Cross |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
16% |
38.7% |
Neck Stress |
149 lbs. |
424 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
13 lbs. |
33 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
50/51 lbs. |
184/324 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.7 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
27% |
39.7% |
Neck Stress |
99 lbs. |
182 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
222/167 lbs. |
331/198 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 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
Eclipse Cross |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
61 |
145 |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
148 |
162 |
Spine Acceleration |
54 G’s |
55 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
44 G’s |
44 G’s |
Hip Force |
576 lbs. |
622 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 3.8% less likely to roll over than the Eclipse Cross.
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 Eclipse Cross has not been fully tested, yet.