Based on the compact-sized Tucson, the brand-new Santa Cruz sport adventure vehicle has earned the second-best overall rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The reason Hyundai wasn’t awarded Top Safety Pick+ concerns the base headlights, which feature halogen low beams and halogen high beams on the SE and SEL grades.
Although the low beams exhibit good visibility on the right and left sides of the road on the straightaway, the visibility was deemed inadequate in all four curve tests. As for the high beams, visibility was pretty bad on both sides of the road and visibility left much to be desired in the curve tests as well. Alas, the institute could give a better performance rating than poor.
Upgrade to the SEL Premium or the range-topping Limited trim level, and the IIHS reports good performance from the LED-type headlights. The other problem the institute has found with the Santa Cruze is the LATCH system for child seats. More specifically, the lower anchors are located too deep in the rear seats of the SEL grade, which features cloth upholstery.
As you can tell from the attached video, the Santa Cruz has passed the driver-side small overlap crash test with flying colors. All six crashworthiness tests concluded with good ratings, and the institute is much obliged to report superior performance from the crash avoidance and mitigation systems as well. It’s a pretty safe little thing, and the Santa Cruz also happens to be pretty good value for money as well at $23,990 for the SE trim level with front-wheel drive. At the other end of the spectrum, the all-wheel-drive turbo Limited kicks off at $39,720 excluding the destination charge.
The non-profit organization from Arlington hasn’t managed to test the all-new Maverick thus far, the primary and only rival of the Santa Cruz pickup truck. Based on the LEDs of the XL grade, chances are that the Maverick will receive the much-coveted Top Safety Pick+ rating with a bit of luck.
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
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News