Rear-seat headroom equals or beats all its competition, except for the Suzuki Grand Vitara. Rear legroom in the Santa Fe equals or tops everyone's. Rear-seat cupholders are molded into the door-mounted map pockets. The rear seatback reclines, and last year's awkward reclining mechanism has been redesigned for 2003.
Hyundai has added ISOFIX child-seat anchors at both outboard seating positions to the 2003 models. Head restraints and three-point seatbelts are provided for outboard passengers as well, while the center-rear passenger must make do with a lap belt only. The outboard shoulder-belt anchor loops are fixed, not adjustable (though we sometimes wonder whether anyone actually adjusts the adjustable kind). The restraining loops for rear seat-belt buckles don't appear to be very durable (but that isn't a safety item).
The Santa Fe provides as much or more cargo space than any other compact SUV except for the Ford Escape, and offers as many as nine tie-down loops to keep your gear from shifting around. Sub-floor storage bins help hide your more valuable cargo, provided it can fit in one of the bins: in other words, nothing too tall, too wide or too thick.
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