For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 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 Tesla Model S 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 Ioniq 5 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Model S doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Ioniq 5 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 Model S doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Ioniq 5’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The Model S doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The Ioniq 5 Limited has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Model S 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.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Ioniq 5’s standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. The Model S doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
The Ioniq 5 has standard Blue Link, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to get turn-by-turn driving directions, remotely unlock your doors if you lock your keys in, help track down your vehicle if it’s stolen or send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Model S doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the Ioniq 5 and the Model S have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras and driver alert monitors.
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 Ioniq 5 is safer than the Tesla Model S:
|
Ioniq 5 |
Model S |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
75 |
160 |
Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
.7 inches |
Hip Force |
261 lbs. |
339 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
7 inches |
8 inches |
HIC |
252 |
449 |
Spine Acceleration |
35 G’s |
46 G’s |
Hip Force |
702 lbs. |
785 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Model S is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.