Moses Akaigwe
The 2020 Hyundai Kona, Santa Fe, and Tucson were all awarded 5-Star Overall Safety Ratings, the highest available overall safety rating issued by the United State government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a facet of its New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP).
Kona, Santa Fe and Tucson exemplified exceptional safety in crashworthiness and collision avoidance—due to the new Hyundai SmartSense safety technologies available in these 2020 models. Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA), uses the car’s front-facing camera and radar to help detect an imminent collision and avoid impact or minimize damage by braking autonomously.
Sensing road markings, Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) helps to prevent accidental lane departure and may automatically steer the car if required. Driver Attention Warning (DAW) monitors ones’ driving patterns—detecting drowsy or inattentive driving. Once detected, it alerts the driver with a sound cue and warning message on the instrument panel.
Additional safety technologies in these vehicles include Blind Spot Collision Warning (BCW) and Rear Cross Traffic Warning (RCCW).
NHTSA conducts vehicle testing and ratings each year to give consumers information about crashworthiness, collision avoidance and other areas that improve the safety of new vehicles.
Hyundai praised NHTSA, IIHS, and the automotive industry for working together to make rear seat reminder systems standard features on new vehicles in the future. Making these systems standard equipment will help prevent child deaths from heatstroke in vehicles. In August 2019, Hyundai announced that they will be making Rear Occupant Alert (ROA) door-logic system standard on most new vehicles by 2022.
Describing the rating as a welcome development last week, Hyundai representative in Nigeria, Hyundai Motors Nigeria Limited {a division of Stallion Motors Limited}, confirmed that both the Santa Fe and Tucson which are available in the local market come with all the safety technologies that earned for them the 5-star safety ranking.