For enhanced safety, the front and second-row seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Palisade 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 Tahoe doesn’t offer pretensioners for its second-row seat belts.
Both the Palisade and Tahoe have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Palisade 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 Tahoe’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.
The Hyundai Palisade 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 Tahoe doesn’t offer knee airbags.
With its standard Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, the Hyundai Palisade is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Chevrolet Tahoe, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
| |
Palisade |
Tahoe |
| Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
| |
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
| 12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
| |
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
| 12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-3 MPH |
| 12 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
| 25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-14 MPH |
| 25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-2 MPH |
| |
Parallel Adult - NIGHT |
|
| 25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-24 MPH |
| 25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-22 MPH |
| 37 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-18 MPH |
| Warning Issued-Brights |
1.8 sec |
1.6 sec |
| 37 MPH Low beams |
-34 MPH |
-10 MPH |
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Hyundai Palisade achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, outperforming the Chevrolet Tahoe which scored “Poor” - the lowest rating - in these critical safety features.
The Palisade’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 Tahoe doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
For better protection of the passenger compartment, the Palisade uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Tahoe uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.
Both the Palisade and the Tahoe have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, 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 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH moderate front offset crash tests on new cars. In this updated test, results indicate that the Palisade is much safer than the Tahoe:
| |
Palisade |
Tahoe |
| Overall Evaluation |
ACCEPTABLE |
POOR |
| Structure |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| |
Driver Injury Measures |
|
| Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Chest Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Thigh/hip Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Leg/foot Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Restraints |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| |
Rear Passenger Injury Measures |
|
| Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
POOR |
| Chest Rating |
GOOD |
MARGINAL |
| Thigh Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
The Hyundai Palisade achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2025 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated moderate overlap front crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Tahoe is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2025.

