The 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid is designed to help you avoid getting into one in the first place.
To us she'll always be the Red Rocket. To the rest of the world, she is a red 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan. We bought her 13 years ago, already a couple of years old, at the Avis used car lot out by the airport in Anchorage. The Red Rocket served us well all these years. It never had a major mechanical problem and it didn't use or leak oil. This is what happened: Christy and I are in pretty good health but we got older. Reaction times are a bit slower. Vision is a little less sharp. The mind wanders a tad more than it used to.
Here's what really pushed me over the edge in terms of considering a newer, safer car. In the last year or so we had some dark, rainy weather. I attached these special bubble mirrors to the regular side-view mirrors on the Red Rocket to eliminate blind spots when I wanted to switch lanes. Between the darkness and the thick coating of rain drops, the bubble mirrors were useless, and I nearly pushed cars in my blind spot off the road a couple times. Scary.
A few months ago I got serious and decided to look into buying a new car that would be safer for us than the Red Rocket and get better gas mileage. I spent hours and hours poring over car reviews in Consumer Reports and on YouTube. Then we visited the car lots. We sat in cars (too low and confining), took test drives (the seats were uncomfortable and the engines were too loud) and made inquiries ("Sure, I can put you in one of those in about a year. Maybe six months.")
And then, finally, one day we walked into a dealership and bought one. We purchased a 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid. This is a boxy mid-sized SUV, highly rated for safety, mileage and reliability by Consumer Reports. We like it because it is fairly easy to get in and out of and has large windows with a high roofline and a nice open, airy feeling. They had several on the lot. Naturally we bought the red one.
I want to focus on my experience with a couple of the safety features because after all, that's the main reason we bought a new car. The 15-year-old Red Rocket had seatbelts, a tiny little backup camera screen, air bags, and crumple zones. That was pretty much it.
The Santa Fe has all that and a plethora of additional whiz-bang safety features that we are still trying to figure out. The conceptual distinction is this: The Red Rocket was designed to help you survive a collision. The Santa Fe is designed to help you avoid getting into one in the first place.
To wit: A few days ago we took the Hyundai for a spin from Anchorage to Palmer. On the highway on the way back it urgently chimed. It was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't figure out what. After a few moments of looking around for a hint, I realized that the digital dashboard had been replaced by the image of a steaming cup of coffee and the words, "Consider taking a break."
The Driver Attention Warning system uses a front view camera on our windshield to analyze driving patterns, lane positioning, and steering behavior. If it thinks we are tired or impaired, it unabashedly "advises" (or "nags," depending upon your perspective). And by the way, I was neither tired nor impaired. Maybe a bit inattentive? In any case it perked me right up.
More good news, Anchorage. It is safe to drive next to me now. The Hyundai has the awkwardly named but very helpful Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist. When I flip on my turn signal to change lanes and there is a car next to me in the blind spot, the steering wheel vibrates and a small red light pops on in the side-view mirror. You cannot miss the message: "don't change lanes now!"
There is so much more. For example, the Smart Cruise Control keeps you at a steady speed on the highway but automatically slows down when it senses a slower car in front of you. Lane Keeping Assist vibrates your steering wheel and gives your wheel a little tug if you start wandering into the next lane. Safe Exit Assist uses radar to warn you when a car or bicycle is coming from behind after you have parked and you want to get out of the car.
Yeah, it's a Nagmobile compared to our previous car, but I can live with that (yes, an embarrassingly bad pun!).
Lawrence D. Weiss is a UAA Professor of Public health, Emeritus, creator of the UAA Master of Public health program, and author of several books and numerous articles.
