Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and CR-V 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 CR-V’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.
With its standard Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Honda CR-V, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
CR-V |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
|
Crossing Child - DAY |
|
12 MPH |
AVOIDED |
-10 MPH |
25 MPH |
AVOIDED |
-18 MPH |
|
Crossing Adult - NIGHT |
|
12 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
12 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
-17 MPH |
|
Parallel Adult - NIGHT |
|
25 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
AVOIDED |
25 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
37 MPH Brights |
AVOIDED |
-33 MPH |
37 MPH Low beams |
AVOIDED |
No Slowing |
Warning Issued-Low beams |
1.4 sec |
No Warning |
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, outperforming the Honda CR-V which scored only an “Acceptable” in these critical safety features.
The Santa Fe Hybrid Limited/Calligraphy has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The CR-V 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.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe Hybrid has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Rear cross-path warning is not offered on the CR-VLX and the CR-V’s Cross Traffic Monitor does not include automatic braking.
Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and the CR-V have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear 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, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors and available all wheel drive.
The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid weighs 505 to 1103 pounds more than the Honda CR-V. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
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 Santa Fe Hybrid is much safer than the CR-V:
|
Santa Fe Hybrid |
CR-V |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
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 |
|
Chest Rating |
|
|
Thigh Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Restraints |
ACCEPTABLE |
POOR |
The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid (built after November 2024) has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2025 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The CR-V is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2025.