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 Sportage are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The 500X 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 Autonomous Emergency Braking in the Sportage as “Superior.” The 500X scores only 4 points and is rated only “Advanced.”
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Sportage Prestige has standard Parking Collision Avoidance-Reverse that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The 500X doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Sportage’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The 500X doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The Sportage’s standard 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. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the 500X and is only available on 500X Sport.
The Sportage Prestige has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The 500X 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.
Both the Sportage and 500X offer rear cross-traffic warning, but the Sportage with Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning also has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The 500X’s Rear Cross Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Sportage and the 500X 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, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive and blind spot warning systems.
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 available headlight’s “Acceptable” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Sportage the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2022, a rating granted to only 175 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The 500X last would have qualified as a “Top Safety Pick” in 2017.