For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mazda CX-30 have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Mazda CX-30 has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Santa Fe Hybrid doesn’t offer knee airbags.
The CX-30 has standard Whiplash-Reducing Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Whiplash-Reducing Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Santa Fe Hybrid doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
Both the CX-30 and the Santa Fe 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available 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 Mazda CX-30 is safer than the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid:
|
CX-30 |
Santa Fe Hybrid |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
148 |
296 |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
179 |
244 |
Neck Compression |
85 lbs. |
89 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 Mazda CX-30 is safer than the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid:
|
CX-30 |
Santa Fe Hybrid |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Chest Movement |
1 inches |
1.1 inches |
Hip Force |
275 lbs. |
415 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
525 lbs. |
736 lbs. |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
12 inches |
14 inches |
HIC |
178 |
376 |
Spine Acceleration |
30 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, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the CX-30 its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 58 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Santa Fe Hybrid has not been fully tested, yet.