For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Palisade 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 Chevrolet Traverse doesn’t offer height-adjustable front seat belts.
Both the Palisade and Traverse have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Palisade 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 Traverse’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 Hyundai Palisade 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 Traverse doesn’t offer knee airbags.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Palisade Calligraphy 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 Traverse doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
The Palisade 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 Traverse’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Palisade has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Chevrolet charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Traverse and the Traverse’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.
The Palisade’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 Traverse doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Palisade and the Traverse have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Hyundai Palisade is safer than the Chevrolet Traverse:
|
Palisade |
Traverse |
OVERALL STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
160 |
216 |
Neck Stress |
161 lbs. |
198 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
42 lbs. |
77 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
333 |
333 |
Chest Compression |
.5 inches |
.9 inches |
Neck Injury Risk |
35% |
35.2% |
Neck Compression |
43 lbs. |
51 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 Palisade is safer than the Chevrolet Traverse:
|
Palisade |
Traverse |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
25 |
69 |
Chest Movement |
.7 inches |
.9 inches |
Abdominal Force |
113 lbs. |
161 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Spine Acceleration |
36 G’s |
39 G’s |
Hip Force |
189 lbs. |
716 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
14 inches |
14 inches |
HIC |
223 |
251 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Side impacts caused 23% of all road fatalities in 2018, down from 29% in 2003, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced its side barrier test. In order to continue improving vehicle safety, the IIHS has started using a more severe side impact test: 37 MPH (up from 31 MPH), with a 4180-pound barrier (up from 3300 pounds). The results of this newly developed test demonstrates that the Hyundai Palisade is safer than the Traverse:
|
Palisade |
Traverse |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Structure |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
Head/Neck |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head Injury Criterion |
68 |
141 |
Neck Tension |
156 lbs. |
446 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
-45 lbs. |
45 lbs. |
Torso |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Shoulder Deflection |
.55 in |
1.3 in |
Shoulder Force |
156 lbs. |
312 lbs. |
Torso Max Deflection |
1.18 in |
1.5 in |
Torso Deflection Rate |
6 MPH |
6 MPH |
Pelvis |
ACCEPTABLE |
ACCEPTABLE |
Pelvis Force |
1026 lbs. |
1116 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
Passenger Injury Measures |
|
Head Injury Criterion |
70 |
189 |
Neck Tension |
89 lbs. |
134 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
-67 lbs. |
201 lbs. |
Shoulder Deflection |
.55 in |
1.02 in |
Shoulder Force |
178 lbs. |
290 lbs. |
Torso Deflection Rate |
5 MPH |
10 MPH |
Pelvis |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Pelvis Force |
491 lbs. |
848 lbs. |
Head Protection |
GOOD |
GOOD |
For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Palisade its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 29 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Traverse last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Safety Pick” in 2017.