Compare the2024 Hyundai Santa Fe HybridVS 2025 Honda Pilot

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

Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and Pilot have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Santa Fe Hybrid has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Pilot’s Cross Traffic Monitor doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and the Pilot have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, 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, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

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

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

The Santa Fe Hybrid’s corrosion warranty is 2 years longer than the Pilot’s (7 vs. 5 years).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe Hybrid for 1 year and 12000 miles longer than Honda pays for maintenance for the Pilot (3/36,000 vs. 2/24,000).

A hardened steel chain, with no maintenance needs, drives the camshafts in the Santa Fe Hybrid’s engine. A rubber cam drive belt that needs periodic replacement drives the Pilot’s camshafts. If the Pilot’s belt breaks, the engine could be severely damaged when the pistons hit the opened valves.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2023 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are better in initial quality than Honda vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai above average in initial quality. With 2 more problems per 100 vehicles, Honda is rated lower.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Honda vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in reliability, above the industry average. With 82 more problems per 100 vehicles, Honda is ranked 24th.

The Santa Fe Hybrid’s 1.6 turbo 4-cylinder hybrid produces 9 lbs.-ft. more torque (271 vs. 262) than the Pilot’s 3.5 DOHC V6.

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

Regenerative brakes improve the Santa Fe Hybrid’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Pilot doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

The Santa Fe Hybrid Limited/Calligraphy’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Pilot Sport/Touring/Elite/Black Edition’s 50 series tires.

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

The Santa Fe Hybrid’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 Pilot doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

The Santa Fe Hybrid is 9.7 inches shorter than the Pilot, making the Santa Fe Hybrid easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Santa Fe Hybrid has .6 inches more front headroom, 3.3 inches more front legroom, .4 inches more rear headroom and .7 inches more rear legroom than the Pilot.

The Santa Fe Hybrid has a standard Sinking Seat third row seat, which folds flat into the floor. This completely clears a very large cargo area quickly, without having to lift, carry or store heavy seats, like in the Pilot.

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Santa Fe Hybrid’s second row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Pilot doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

The Santa Fe Hybrid uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Pilot uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Santa Fe Hybrid’s standard outside mirrors include heating elements to clear off the mirrors for better visibility. Honda only offers heated mirrors on the Pilot EX-L/TrailSport/Touring/Elite/Black Edition.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. Only the Pilot EX-L/TrailSport/Touring/Elite/Black Edition offers wireless charging.

The Santa Fe Hybrid 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 Pilot doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the Honda Pilot by 19% during 2023.