For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Tucson Plug-In Hybrid 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 MINI SE Countryman 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 Tucson Plug-In Hybrid are reminded to check the back seat. The SE Countryman 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 Automatic Emergency Braking in the Tucson Plug-In Hybrid as “Superior.” The SE Countryman scores only 3 points and is rated only “Advanced.”
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Tucson Plug-In Hybrid Limited has standard Reverse Collision-Avoidance Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Tucson Plug-In Hybrid’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The Tucson Plug-In Hybrid Limited has a standard Around View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The SE Countryman 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.
The Tucson Plug-In Hybrid’s blind spot warning system 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. The SE Countryman doesn’t offer a system to reveal objects in the driver’s blind spots.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Tucson Plug-In Hybrid’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 SE Countryman doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
Both the Tucson Plug-In Hybrid and the SE Countryman have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, 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 and driver alert monitors.
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 Tucson Plug-In Hybrid its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 67 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The SE Countryman last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Safety Pick” in 2017.