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 Volkswagen Tiguan doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.
Both the Santa Fe and Tiguan 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 Tiguan’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 Tiguan doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Hyundai Santa Fe 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 Tiguan doesn’t offer knee airbags.
With its standard Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, the Hyundai Santa Fe is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Volkswagen Tiguan, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
|
Santa Fe |
Tiguan |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
|
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
25 MPH |
AVOIDED |
-12 MPH |
|
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
12 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
25 MPH Brights |
-21 MPH |
-20 MPH |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-20 MPH |
|
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 |
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 Tiguan doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Santa Fe and the Tiguan have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
The Hyundai Santa Fe weighs 403 to 754 pounds more than the Volkswagen Tiguan. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
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 Tiguan is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.