The 2021 Hyundai Elantra and Santa Fe have both received the Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), when they are equipped with specific headlights.

2021 Hyundai Santa Fe

This means that not every version of the Elantra and Santa Fe have received the coveted award. Here it only applies to the Elantra Limited and the Santa Fe’s Limited and Calligraphy trim levels. These specific version comes with good rated LED projector headlights, while the headlights on the lower trim levels were rated as poor or marginal.

To receive the Top Safety Pick award, a vehicle must earn good ratings in all six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests. It must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests and good- or acceptable-rated headlights.

Both the Elantra and Santa Fe missed out on the higher-tier Top Safety Pick+ award. To receive this award, all the available headlights on a vehicle must receive either a good or acceptable rating.