The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has posted the official crash test results of the Hyundai Santa Cruz. The car received Top Safety Pick, a great overall score that could only be improved slightly with a more up-to-date headlight tech.
This safety ranking only applies to select Santa Cruz trim levels, specifically, the SEL Premium and Limited. As for the less premium trims – the SE and SEL – they use halogen headlamps for both high and low beams, ensuring ‘good’ visibility on the right-hand side of the road and ‘satisfactory’ visibility on the left side. The visibility in turns has been found inadequate, deducting from the score.
Elsewhere, the Santa Cruz was praised for driver and front passenger’s safety in a head-on collision, as well as pedestrians’ safety.