For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Subaru Forester 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 Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Subaru Forester has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The Forester 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 Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
Both the Forester and the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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, available blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors, rear cross-path warning and driver alert monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Subaru Forester is safer than the Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid:
|
Forester |
Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
186 |
296 |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
105/93 lbs. |
222/167 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 Forester is safer than the Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid:
|
Forester |
Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
.6 inches |
1.1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
122 lbs. |
164 lbs. |
Hip Force |
389 lbs. |
415 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
670 lbs. |
736 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
121 |
376 |
Spine Acceleration |
40 G’s |
44 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, and daytime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Forester the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2023, a rating granted to only 53 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid has not been fully tested, yet.