Compare the2022 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2021 Toyota Highlander

Both the Santa Fe and Highlander have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Santa Fe 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 Highlander’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.

The Santa Fe has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. Only the Highlander LE/XLE/XSE/Limited/Platinum offers a blind spot warning system.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe has a standard cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the Highlander LE/XLE/XSE/Limited/Platinum has a cross-path warning system.

Both the Santa Fe and the Highlander have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, 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, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

The Santa Fe comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Highlander’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Toyota covers the Highlander. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Highlander ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 2 years longer than the Highlander’s (7 vs. 5 years).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 1 year and 11000 miles longer than Toyota pays for maintenance for the Highlander (3/36,000 vs. 2/25000).

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2020 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are better in initial quality than Toyota vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai 10th in initial quality, above the industry average. With 24 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is ranked 19th, below the industry average.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s standard 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 48 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 263) than the Highlander’s 3.5 DOHC V6.

The Santa Fe offers an available sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Highlander doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

For better stopping power the Santa Fe 2.5T’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Highlander:

The Santa Fe stops shorter than the Highlander:

For better traction, the Santa Fe Calligraphy’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Highlander (255/45R20 vs. 235/65R18).

The Santa Fe’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 60 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Highlander L/LE/XLE’s standard 65 series tires. The Santa Fe Calligraphy’s tires have a lower 45 series profile than the Highlander XSE/Limited/Platinum’s 55 series tires.

The Hyundai Santa Fe may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 350 to 500 pounds less than the Toyota Highlander.

The Santa Fe is 6.5 inches shorter than the Highlander, making the Santa Fe easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Santa Fe has 2.1 inches more front legroom, .3 inches more front hip room, .1 inches more front shoulder room and .7 inches more rear legroom than the Highlander.

The front step up height for the Santa Fe is 1.5 inches lower than the Highlander (17.5” vs. 19”). The Santa Fe’s rear step up height is .9 inches lower than the Highlander’s (18.3” vs. 19.2”).

The Santa Fe has a much larger cargo volume than the Highlander with its rear seat up (36.4 vs. 16 cubic feet).

A low lift-over cargo hatch design makes loading and unloading the Santa Fe easier. The Santa Fe’s cargo hatch lift-over height is 29 inches, while the Highlander’s liftover is 31.2 inches.

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Santa Fe’s (except SE) optional rear seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Highlander doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

The Santa Fe uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Highlander uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Santa Fe SEL/Limited/Calligraphy has a standard remote vehicle starting system, so the vehicle can be started from inside the driver's house. This allows the driver to comfortably warm up the engine before going out to the vehicle. The climate system will also automatically heat or cool the interior. The Highlander doesn’t offer a remote starting system.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s standard easy entry system glides the driver’s seat back when the door is unlocked or the ignition is switched off, making it easier for the driver to get in and out. The Highlander doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The Highlander doesn’t offer an automated parking system.