Both the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid and Forester have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Santa Fe Plug-In 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 Forester’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.
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 Forester 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 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 Forester’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid has a standard rear cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Rear cross-path warning costs extra on the Forester and isn't available on the not available.
Compared to metal, the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid’s plastic fuel tank can withstand harder, more intrusive impacts without leaking; this decreases the possibility of fire. The Subaru Forester has a metal gas tank.
Both the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid and the Forester 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 and rearview cameras.
The Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid weighs 767 to 1061 pounds more than the Subaru Forester. 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 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Subaru Forester:
|
Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid |
Forester |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
16% |
23% |
Neck Stress |
149 lbs. |
326 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
13 lbs. |
22 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
50/51 lbs. |
248/368 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
244 |
293 |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.7 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
27% |
31% |
Neck Stress |
99 lbs. |
213 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
89 lbs. |
103 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 Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the Subaru Forester:
|
Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid |
Forester |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
61 |
66 |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
148 |
246 |
Spine Acceleration |
54 G’s |
56 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
14 inches |
16 inches |
Hip Force |
576 lbs. |
673 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.