For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The MINI SE Countryman doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.
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 Plug-In Hybrid are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests front crash prevention systems. With a score of 6 points, IIHS rates the Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist in the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid as “Superior.” The SE Countryman scores only 3 points and is rated only “Advanced.”
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid Limited has standard Parking Collision Avoidance Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid offers an optional Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The SE Countryman only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid’s blind spot warning system 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. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a system to reveal objects in the driver’s blind spots.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid’s standard rear cross-path warning system uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a cross-path warning system.
The Santa Fe Plug-In 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 SE Countryman doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid and the SE Countryman have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, plastic fuel tanks, 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 and rearview cameras.
The Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid weighs 401 to 529 pounds more than the MINI SE Countryman. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
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 Plug-In Hybrid its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 87 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The SE Countryman last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Safety Pick” in 2017.