IIHS gives SantaFe Top Pick status
Hyundai has been on a mission to turn their fortunes around with hard work, smart engineering and a dogged determination to improve. The 2007 Santa Fe has just gone from the dubious rating of "poor" to a trifecta of "good" in front, side, and rear collisions by the IIHS. The '07 Santa Fe owes its dramatic and positive swing in the IIHS ratings to standard Stability Control and several improvements to the seats and head rest. The IIHS "good" trophy will look terrific on Hyundai's mantel alongside the Santa Fe's five-star NHTSA rating for front and side impact.
This is more good news for Hyundai that's on a bit of a roll. The Veracruz just beat out the Lexus RX350 in a Motor Trend comparison, RWD luxury vehicles with V8 engines will soon be in the lineup, and quality scores have improved dramatically. If we were Toyota, we'd be sweating the sleeper company from South Korea right about now. Check out the full press release after the jump.
[Source: IIHS]
Hyundai Santa Fe earns 2007 TOP SAFETY PICK award
ARLINGTON, VA - The 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe, a midsize SUV, meets the criteria to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's TOP SAFETY PICK designation. The Santa Fe earned the top rating of good for front, side, and rear crash protection and is equipped with electronic stability control. Now 21 cars, SUVs, and minivans earn TOP SAFETY PICK status.
"The performance of the Santa Fe makes good on Hyundai's promise to provide the highest level of safety to its customers," says Institute president Adrian Lund. The Hyundai Entourage and twin Kia Sedona also earned TOP SAFETY PICK for minivans. The Institute recognizes vehicles with this award to help consumers distinguish the best overall choices without having to sort through multiple crash test results.
"Criteria to win are tough because they're intended to drive continued safety improvements such as high crash test ratings and rapid addition of electronic stability control, which is standard equipment on the Santa Fe," Lund says. The Santa Fe also is equipped with side airbags as standard equipment to protect the heads of people in all three rows of seats.
Redesign improves rear crash performance: Hyundai engineers redesigned the Santa Fe's seat/head restraints to improve performance in rear impacts. The seats and head restraints in this vehicle's predecessor model were rated poor overall. The new seats include head restraints designed to automatically move up and toward the heads of people in the front seats during a rear impact. These new seat/head restraints are rated good overall.
How vehicles are evaluated: The Institute's frontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of 40 mph frontal offset crash tests. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based on measurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures recorded on a Hybrid III dummy in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motion film to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movement during the test.
Side evaluations are based on performance in a crash test in which the side of a vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph. The barrier represents the front end of a pickup or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on two instrumented SID-IIs dummies, assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle's structural performance during the impact. Injury measures obtained from the two dummies, one in the driver seat and the other in the back seat behind the driver, are used to determine the likelihood that a driver and/or passenger in a similar real-world crash would sustain serious injury to various parts of the body. The movements and contacts of the dummies' heads during the test also are evaluated. Structural performance is based on measurements indicating the amount of B-pillar intrusion into the occupant compartment.
Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure. Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry - the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man. Seat/head restraints with good or acceptable geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash machado 8:01AM (6/12/2007)
Hyundai is all set to become the next Toyota.
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John R 8:24AM (6/12/2007)
It's not a bad formula Hyundai's got going on.
Good looking cars with good interiors and a punchy motor combined with a 100k/10 yr powertrain warranty and a 60k/ 5yr bumper-to-bumper at a more than reasonable price.
It's almost a no brainer for many families.
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bestmacs 8:39AM (6/12/2007)
From memory, Hyundai started out as a deep-sea engineering company before branching out in auto production.
Cheers
David McMahon
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shifthead 8:45AM (6/12/2007)
While picking up my coffee this morning, I noticed a Santa Fe at the Hyundai dealership draped with a banner advertising 'Lifetime Warranty'. I checked the website and its true, the dealership is offering a lifetime warranty on the powertrain of any new Hyundai. They are also upping the bumper-to-bumper to 10 years 100,000 miles. Wow.
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Rick Lyon 10:21AM (6/12/2007)
I just hope Hyundai keeps undercutting prices as well and they don't become Chrysler or something and start inflating their MSRPs. Part of the appeal is their price.
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JC3 8:55AM (6/12/2007)
See GM & Ford .Someone can beat Toyota!It can be done.
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bmoredlj 9:01AM (6/12/2007)
Being at the top's tough. Toyota faces a multi-pronged attack from everybody grinding to do what Toyota does as well or better than Toyota. I'm pleased that Hyundai has become so successful and its product has improved so greatly since its U.S. arrival. Now all they need is a big truck.
...then again, maybe not.
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... 11:01AM (6/12/2007)
i'm starting to like hyundai, particularly the tiburon, but its numbers don't seem to impressive for its competition. i wish there was a car similar to the celica (cool engine, good looks, decent performance, good fuel economy, low cost, reliable). i've heard pretty highly of the santa fe, and it looks like hyundai is moving in the right direction.
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TT 11:04AM (6/12/2007)
Hyundai is following the same trend that has already occurred in electronics with Samsung and LG making great products at prices that undercut Sony and the other Japanese manufacturers.
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dave 11:16AM (6/12/2007)
Hyundai will most likely bring a Luxury line stateside to compete with the big boys. They've been talking about it here and there to the press for the past 2 years or so. With a couple new cars up their sleeve to showcase their next-gen vehicles, I'm pretty excited to see how things turn out for them.
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GENERALMOTORSMAN4LIFE 12:11PM (6/12/2007)
My wife and I argued tooth and nail over the purchase of our 2007 Kia sorento for I have been a strict GM person. I looked and waited for a mid-sized RWD suv from GM other than the bloated unreliable Trailblazer (Had one and sold it to carmax!) and there was nothing in the lineup currently nor in the near future available. The Acadia is really a FWD with the AWD option so that doesn't work for me. Our 2007 Kia Sorento now has over 12,000
miles on it and hasn't produced a peep of trouble. Kia quietly changed the engine between the 2006 and 2007 model to the current more reliable timing chain driven engine from the timing belt driven engine configuration. I particularly like the optional manual shifting automatic transmission which allows one to take full advantage of the strong engine. I took the Sorento out on a desserted Georgia stretch of highway and opened it up to see what it could do and this thing was sailing at 120mph in 4th gear-I was shocked!!! It also came loaded with eveything from tire pressue monitoring, electronic stability....etc for less than $22,000 tax included out the door. As I understand that Hyundai is coming out with a large luxury V8 sedan called the Genesis and this vehicle from what i've read is positioning itself not to compete with Honda's and big 3 FWD but it is poised to compete with Lexus and BMW. I'm still purchasing the Camaro when it's available but it's seems the playing field is getting heated anytime you have a once snubbed manufacture come up from behind and surpass the big 3 because they weren't paying attention.
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Damion 1:04PM (6/12/2007)
Hyundai wants to a leader in Style, Performance, crash test ratings, etc...
Just like how Samsung is a leader in electronics, soon LG will be in second place for electronics Sony is in second place right now
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SsangYoung Motors 1:11PM (6/12/2007)
Japanese should watch out Koreans are coming out with more car companies to the US soon
GM plains to bring Daewoo back to the US, SsangYoung said they might come to the US soon in like 2010, and than Samsung Motors is tring to come to the US
SsangYoung Motors is a Premium Luxury Brand so it will compete with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus
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TP 2:22PM (6/12/2007)
who says ssangyong is a premium luxury brand???
edox 5:01PM (6/12/2007)
ssangyong is a premium luxury brand??? stay away from the soju. ssangyong makes only suv and they are ugly. besides, they are owned by the chinese.
also, it's not called samsung motors...it's called renault samsung. sammy sold there auto division to the french during the asia financial crisis
get your fact straight!!!!
Pep 2:14PM (6/12/2007)
Sweet. 2 cars with top safety pic. Almost every car in their range has 5 star safety and ABS, 6 airbags, ESC and TC all come standard. Smart consumers would shop Hyundai.
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joe 2:21PM (6/12/2007)
i rented sonatas, azeras, santa fe, and tucson and all of them gave me a big smile on my face.
i kept saying "wow, this is hyundai?"
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Bill 5:27PM (6/12/2007)
It looks like Hyundai is winning their share of new fans but if push came to shove, would you buy a Hyundai vehicle? I know they are loaded with safety features, creature comforts, inoffensive styling, ect...but can Hyundai break away from their poor reliability reputation? I know their quality has been improving but anyone here know what the long-term quality and reliability of recent Hyundai models? I am genuinely curious because I currently drive an Accord and the lease expires in a month. I am thinking about buying the Sonata after I drove a rental version and was impressed with the quality of the vehicle.
Please do not mention Camry because I don't care how well the car is made, I simply refuse to side with Goliath.
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Brian W 9:06PM (6/12/2007)
No one cared about their poor rating then, why should they care now? People buy them because of price and lots of advertising. The writer is wrong about their quality, it has been going down lately along with sales, how about the facts.
ChanHo 11:16PM (6/12/2007)
Test Drive em all. Don't listen to crybabies like Bryan W. Hyundai has the rep, so they give their customers so much more to compete with Toyota. Why wouldn't you take advantage of this? The whole Korean nation drives Hyundai, so I don't think you need to be concerned with reliability.