The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has recently tested the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe, which did not get the nonprofit organization's Top Safety Pick+ award. As media relations director Joe Young explains in the video below, the reason for this is the high probability of injuries to the rear dummy in the 40-mph updated moderate overlap crash test.
The impact caused the rear passenger crash test dummy's head to approach the front seatback a bit too much, with the sensors indicating a moderate risk of injuries to the head or neck. Although the shoulder belt remained in the ideal position during the crash, the lap belt moved from the pelvis onto the abdomen, resulting in abdominal injuries.
In the updated moderate overlap crash test, IIHS uses an adult dummy in the driver's seat and a dummy the size of a 12-year-old child in the rear seat behind the driver. This is the only crashworthiness test flunked by the updated Santa Fe, which scored good in the original moderate overlap, small overlap, and updated side tests.
The Virginia-based organization also bestowed the good rating upon the front-biased crossover for vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention. However, the IIHS couldn't give the Santa Fe anything more than acceptable for headlight performance and LATCH system ease of use.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety notes that the lower anchors in the outboard second-row seats are located too deep in the seat, a problem that doesn't carry over to the third-row seats. Regarding headlight performance, the projector-type LEDs that come standard on all trims of the 2024 model year Hyundai Santa Fe feature high beams with inadequate visibility on the sharp left curve.
Photo: IIHS
According to the organization's website, the IIHS tested two all-wheel-drive grades, namely the SE HTRAC AWD and the XRT HTRAC AWD. It should be mentioned that SE comes with front-wheel drive as standard, whereas the XRT is a rugged trim level with standard all-wheel drive.
Prices for the ICE-only Santa Fe kicks off at $33,950 for the SE, whereas the hybrid is $36,950 before taxes and extras. At press time, Hyundai's configurator lists the previous-gen Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid rather than the new one. In any case, you should look forward to a similar MSRP to the 2025 Kia Sorento Plug-In Hybrid, which is $47,990.
As you might have guessed by now, the ICE-only Santa Fe comes with a turbocharged 2.5-liter I4 that combines direct and multi-point injection. The hybrid features a 1.6-liter turbo I4 connected to a torque-converter automatic with six forward gears rather than a dual-clutch unit with eight speeds.
Fuel economy favors the Santa Fe Hybrid, which drinks fuel to the tune of 36 miles per gallon (6.5 liters per 100 kilometers) on the combined test cycle. The regular Santa Fe with the 2.5er, by comparison, gets between 24 mpg (9.8 l/100 km) with FWD to 22 mpg (10.7 l/100 km) for the XRT.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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