Compare the2025 Hyundai Santa Fe HybridVS 2025 Toyota Highlander Hybrid

Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and Highlander Hybrid 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 Highlander Hybrid’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.

When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Santa Fe Hybrid’s standard Downhill Brake Control allow you to creep down safely. The Highlander Hybrid doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe Hybrid has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning with Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Only the Highlander Hybrid Limited/Platinum offers Parking Support Brake.

Both the Santa Fe Hybrid and the Highlander Hybrid have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

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

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe Hybrid 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Toyota covers the Highlander Hybrid. 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 Hybrid ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

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

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

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 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 third in initial quality, above the industry average. With 30 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is ranked 17th.

As tested in Motor Trend the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid is faster than the Toyota Highlander Hybrid:

The Santa Fe Hybrid stops shorter than the Highlander Hybrid:

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

The Santa Fe SEL Hybrid’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 Hybrid XLE’s standard 65 series tires. The Santa Fe Hybrid Limited/Calligraphy’s tires have a lower 45 series profile than the Highlander Hybrid Limited/Platinum’s 55 series tires.

The Santa Fe Hybrid’s drift compensation steering can automatically compensate for road conditions which would cause the vehicle to drift from side to side, helping the driver to keep the vehicle straight more easily. The Highlander Hybrid doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy Hybrid AWD handles at .81 G’s, while the Highlander Hybrid Platinum pulls only .78 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy Hybrid AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver quicker than the Highlander Hybrid Platinum (27.5 seconds @ .63 average G’s vs. 28.4 seconds @ .58 average G’s).

The Santa Fe Hybrid is 4.7 inches shorter than the Highlander Hybrid, making the Santa Fe Hybrid easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Santa Fe Hybrid has 11.5 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Highlander Hybrid (151 vs. 139.5).

The Santa Fe Hybrid has 1.5 inches more front headroom, 2.4 inches more front legroom, .5 inches more front shoulder room, 1.2 inches more rear headroom, 2.8 inches more rear legroom, 1.6 inches more third row headroom and 2 inches more third row legroom than the Highlander Hybrid.

The Santa Fe Hybrid has a standard Sinking Seat third row seat, which folds flat into the floor. This completely clears a very large cargo area quickly. The Highlander Hybrid doesn’t offer seats that fold into the floor.

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Santa Fe Hybrid’s second row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Highlander Hybrid doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

The Santa Fe Hybrid uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Highlander Hybrid 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 Hybrid 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 Hybrid doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid stands out above the Toyota Highlander Hybrid by offering not one, but two Qi-compatible phone chargers. This convenience helps travelers with multiple devices to keep powered up on-the-go. Wireless charging eliminates lost or cluttered charging cables and and two of them provide more flexibililty. Both vehicles also offer Qi charging for the second row passengers.

The Santa Fe Hybrid 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 Hybrid doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Santa Fe Hybrid is available in both front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive configurations. The Highlander Hybrid doesn’t offer a two-wheel drive configuration.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the Santa Fe Hybrid first among midsize suvs in owner reported satisfaction. This includes how well the vehicle performs and satisfies its owner’s expectations. The Highlander Hybrid isn’t in the top three in its category.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the Toyota Highlander by 25% during 2024.