Compare the2024 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2024 Chevrolet Blazer

For enhanced safety, the front and second-row seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Santa Fe have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Chevrolet Blazer doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

Both the Santa Fe and Blazer have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Santa Fe 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 Blazer’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.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Santa Fe Limited/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 Blazer doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.

When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Santa Fe’s standard Downhill Brake Control allow you to creep down safely. The Blazer doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.

The Santa Fe 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. A system to reveal vehicles in the Blazer’s blind spot costs extra.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe 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 Blazer and the Blazer’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.

The Santa Fe’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 Blazer doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

Both the Santa Fe and the Blazer have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, 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 Hyundai Santa Fe 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 Blazer has not yet been fully evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.

The Santa Fe comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Blazer’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Chevrolet covers the Blazer. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Blazer ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 1 year and unlimited miles longer than the Blazer’s (7/unlimited vs. 6/100,000).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 3 years and 36,000 miles. Hyundai will pay for oil changes, tire rotations, air filter replacements, cabin filter replacement, brake fluid replacement, inspections, and any other required maintenance. Chevrolet only pays for the first scheduled maintenance visit on the Blazer.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Chevrolet vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Hyundai 9 places higher in reliability than Chevrolet.

The Santa Fe’s 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 49 more horsepower (277 vs. 228) and 53 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 258) than the Blazer’s standard 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder. The Santa Fe’s 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 41 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 270) than the Blazer’s optional 3.6 DOHC V6.

On the EPA test cycle the Santa Fe gets better mileage than the Blazer:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Hyundai Santa Fe uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Blazer with the 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder engine requires premium for maximum efficiency, which can cost on average about 82.8 cents more per gallon.

The Santa Fe has a standard locking fuel door which locks and unlocks with the power locks. The fuel filler door is not lockable on the Blazer. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank.

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Hyundai Santa Fe higher (7 out of 10) than the Chevrolet Blazer (6 to 7). This means the Santa Fe produces up to 1.1 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Blazer every 15,000 miles.

The Santa Fe offers a standard sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Blazer doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

For better stopping power the Santa Fe’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Blazer:

The Santa Fe SE/SEL’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 60 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Blazer’s standard 65 series tires.

The Santa Fe has standard front and rear gas-charged shocks for better control over choppy roads. The Blazer’s suspension doesn’t offer gas-charged shocks.

The Santa Fe’s drift compensation steering can automatically compensate for road conditions which would cause the vehicle to drift from side to side, helping the driver to keep the vehicle straight more easily. The Blazer doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

For better maneuverability, the Santa Fe’s turning circle is .8 feet tighter than the Blazer’s (37.9 feet vs. 38.7 feet).

For greater off-road capability the Santa Fe XRT has a greater minimum ground clearance than the Blazer RS/Premier (8.3 vs. 7.6 inches), allowing the Santa Fe to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

The Santa Fe has standard seating for 7 passengers; the Blazer can only carry 5.

The Santa Fe has 44.2 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Blazer (152 vs. 107.8).

The Santa Fe has 1.3 inches more front headroom, 3.3 inches more front legroom, .9 inches more front hip room, .4 inches more front shoulder room, 2 inches more rear headroom, 2.7 inches more rear legroom and .7 inches more rear hip room than the Blazer.

The Santa Fe’s cargo area provides more volume than the Blazer.

The Santa Fe’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the Blazer’s (3500 vs. 1500 pounds).

The Santa Fe Calligraphy has a standard heads-up display that projects speed, navigation instruction and driver assistance information readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Blazer doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy’s front and rear power windows all open or close with one touch of the switches. The Blazer’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield. The Blazer’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

Manual rear side window sunshades are available in the Santa Fe to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The Blazer doesn’t offer rear side window sunshades.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The Blazer doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the Chevrolet Blazer by over two to one during 2023.