The new 2020 Hyundai Palisade has received rave reviews since its debut, and as Hyundai’s largest family-hauler, it’s set to become the brand’s flagship SUV. And even though the Palisade may be designed and engineered with today’s most modern technology, how safe will it keep your family in a crash? Is the 2020 Hyundai Palisade roomy, well-designed, and safe?

Standard Hyundai Palisade safety tech

The 2020 Palisade is now Hyundai’s biggest and baddest SUV, bringing more competition to the already-stiff three-row-SUV market. And just like most other family-friendly SUVs, the Palisade is loaded to the brim with safety features. According to Consumer Reports, the 2020 Hyundai Palisade comes standard with forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking (city and highway), pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, and lane-keeping assist. A rear-view camera, anti-lock brakes, traction control, stability control, and daytime running lights also come standard.

Using Hyundai SmartSense technology, the Palisade offers Smart Cruise Control with Stop and Go on certain trim levels. According to Hyundai, certain trim levels also come with a Driver Attention Warning system which “detects driver fatigue or inattention,” and provides both visual/audio alerts. But there’s also a ton of optional features that come standard on higher trims or available as options on lower variants. These optional safety features include blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic warning.

How the new Hyundai Palisade performs in safety tests

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the new 2020 Hyundai Palisade is currently one of the safest midsize SUVs on the market. The Palisade received a rating of “Good,” the best rating possible, in all crash tests. This includes small overlap front, side, and roof-strength testing. It also received the highest-possible “Superior” rating in front crash prevention. The Palisade’s front crash prevention system with forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking avoided frontal collisions from both 12 and 25 MPH in track testing.

When it comes to headlights, however, the Palisade received two ratings. With the lower SE and SEL trim levels and halogen headlights, IIHS gave a rating of “Marginal.” With the halogen headlights, visibility wasn’t adequate enough to earn the highest rating. But with upper Palisade levels or optional LED headlights, IIHS handed over a perfect rating of “Good.”

New Hyundai Palisades with LED headlights earn it exceptional overall scores and an IIHS 2019 Top Safety Pick+ award. According to Cars.com, this Top Safety Pick+ award is an exceptional feat for the Hyundai Palisade as the IIHS has toughened testing requirements for 2019.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has not rated the 2020 Hyundai Palisade yet, but does give its available safety features its seal of approval. According to the NHTSA, however, the 2020 Palisade does have one safety recall. Though quickly caught and easily fixed, the recall claims that the side curtain airbags could be damaged by bolts and “may not inflate properly in the event of a crash.”

Where the Hyundai Palisade stacks up against its competition

Consumer Reports gives the 2020 Hyundai Palisade its stamp of recommendation, as well as its pick for second-best of all midsized SUVs. When it comes to performance, safety, value, and reliability, the Palisade falls only behind its cousin, the Kia Telluride. The 2020 Hyundai Palisade receives an impressive overall score of 87 (out of 100) from Consumer Reports, a road test score of 88, and a perfect predicted ownership satisfaction rating of five out of five. In fact, Consumer Reports estimates that up to 93% of new Palisade owners will be completely satisfied with their purchase.