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 Dodge Durango doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.
Both the Santa Fe and Durango 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 Durango’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.
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 Santa Fe are reminded to check the back seat. The Durango doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
With its standard Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, the Hyundai Santa Fe is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Dodge Durango, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
|
Santa Fe |
Durango |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
POOR |
|
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
|
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
12 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Brights |
-21 MPH |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
|
Parallel Adult - NIGHT |
|
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
37 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Brights |
2.1 sec |
No Warning |
37 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Low beams |
1.4 sec |
No Warning |
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 Durango 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 Durango doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The Santa Fe’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Durango and is not available with SXT.
The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Durango 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.
Both the Santa Fe and Durango have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Santa Fe has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Durango’s Rear Cross Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.
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 Durango doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Santa Fe and the Durango have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available all wheel drive.
A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Hyundai Santa Fe is safer than the Durango:
|
Santa Fe |
Durango |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
Restraints |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Head Neck Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head injury index |
76 |
119 |
Peak Head Forces |
0 G’s |
0 G’s |
Steering Column Movement Rearward |
1 cm |
9 cm |
Chest Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Max Chest Compression |
26 cm |
26 cm |
Hip & Thigh Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Femur Force R/L |
.5/.6 kN |
5.3/2.5 kN |
Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L |
0%/0% |
6%/0% |
Lower Leg Evaluation |
GOOD |
POOR |
Tibia index R/L |
.4/.39 |
1.53/.59 |
Tibia forces R/L |
1.5/1 kN |
1.9/1.4 kN |
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 Durango is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.