5 Of The Safest Compact SUVs Of 2026, According To Consumer Reports

When we’re looking to get a new vehicle, there are many factors we need to keep in mind. Any new ride should fit our budget, feel good to drive, be as fuel efficient as possible, and be reliable enough to where we’re not having to spend a bunch of money on maintenance and repairs. Another crucial element is safety: Anytime you get behind the wheel of a vehicle, there’s the possibility of danger, and finding a car that can minimize that possibility is of the utmost importance. An excellent source for determining vehicle safety has always been Consumer Reports, especially with its 2026 list of the safest small SUVs currently on the market.

The compact SUV is an incredibly popular vehicle type, and CR has helpfully looked at countless models to determine which are the safest in that particular class. It comes to this conclusion based on a number of factors. These include high scores from crash test data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), good marks from Consumer Reports’ own testing of things like braking distance and emergency handling, and whether or not the vehicle comes standard with technological safety features like blind spot detection and rear cross traffic warnings. If a compact SUV can check off all of these boxes, CR rated it highly for safety. Although there are numerous compact SUVs that ended up on the list, we’re looking at five different models from both consumer-friendly and luxury automotive brands that have Consumer Reports gave its highest marks to for safety.

The Hyundai Tucson has become one of the most popular vehicles in the United States, being the thirteenth-best seller of any model in 2025. There’s little reason to see why it would not remain as popular this year as well; it’s getting stellar feedback, with the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid being probably the best-reviewed crossover hybrid SUV on the market for that year. On top of that, both the 2026 gas-powered and hybrid models rank in the top nine of Consumer Reports’ overall ranking of compact SUVs.

An important contributing factor to its great reviews has to do with safety. Both versions of the Tucson check all of the boxes CR requires to get a perfect safety rating. Every trim comes standard with automatic emergency braking for pedestrians and potential forward collisions while going at least 55 mph, as well as both blind spot and rear cross traffic warnings. Along with these features, they have met federal safety requirements as well as Consumer Reports’ own standards for safety. Their reliability scores may not measure up to the competition, particularly the hybrid model, but that does not mean they are not safe vehicles.

Notably absent though is the 2026 Hyundai Tucson Plug-In Hybrid. While still receiving a decent safety score from Consumer Reports, it is a step down from the other two iterations. That’s because there’s no data for the plug-in model going through front or side crash tests from the IIHS. While it performs well everywhere else, these are crucial tests to get the fullest picture of its safety; without that data, it’s simply impossible to make a full determination.

While this next compact SUV is not as popular as the Hyundai Tucson, that does not mean it is any less safe. In fact, the 2026 Mazda CX-50 passed all of the same safety tests, and it was able to do it with both the standard gas-powered model and the hybrid one. This Mazda SUV has all of those technological safety features standard across every trim and meets every federal and Consumer Reports safety requirement. However, unlike the Hyundai, there is no plug-in hybrid option for the Mazda CX-50, meaning every variation of this SUV gets that top safety rating. These high safety ratings helped contribute to Mazda being considered the safest overall car brand by CR.

Drivers are generally pretty happy with the Mazda CX-50, but even though it managed these high safety scores, Consumer Reports has found that the overall owner satisfaction for these models do not necessarily stack up in overall owner satisfaction when compared to other top compact SUVs on the market. The non-hybrid version of the CX-50 particularly struggles to win much praise from owners. Both models have below average reliability ratings, which certainly contribute to these lower scores. In fact, only five compact SUVs tested by CR scored lower on reliability than these two Mazda models. That being said, if safety is your biggest concern when it comes to a vehicle and the $29,900 (plus a $1,495 destination fee) starting price is attractive, the 2026 Mazda CX-50 should be able to deliver what you want.

The next compact SUV that Consumer Reports considers to be incredibly safe comes from an automaker that is generally regarded as one of the most reliable brands in the world: Subaru. Consumer Reports’ evaluation of the brand overall may not be as safe as something like Mazda, but it still ranks quite highly. The compact SUV we’re looking at is the 2026 Subaru Forester Hybrid. Not only does this vehicle meet every single requirement CR looks for when determining its safety rating for the vehicle, but the Forester Hybrid also has the highest overall score of any compact SUV from Consumer Reports across reliability, road testing, and owner satisfaction as well.

While the non-hybrid version of the Subaru Forester ties for second place on that overall list, it does not measure up to the hybrid model when it comes to safety; only the 2026 Forester Hybrid managed to score those top marks. The reason for this is that blind spot and rear cross traffic warnings do not come standard on the regular Forester but as options that one would need to pay extra for unless you opt for a higher-tiered trim. Meanwhile, the base Forester Hybrid has these features as standard. You most certainly can pay for these technological upgrades on a 2026 gas-powered Forester to have a vehicle that measures up in every way, but that might not be possible for everyone. As Consumer Reports judged the vehicle in its totality, that’s why there’s no safety downside for the hybrid model.

Just because a car brand aims for luxury does not mean that it needs to sacrifice safety in the pursuit of style. That is the very case with the 2026 Acura ADX, the compact SUV from the luxury arm of Japanese automaker Honda. This may be a moderately reliable SUV with one of the cheaper price tags for a luxury model, starting at $35,000 plus a $1,450 destination and handling fee, but the ADX hits every singe one of Consumer Reports’ benchmarks to get those top safety ratings. It comes standard with all of the technological safety features you could want, including blind spot, pedestrian, and rear cross traffic warnings. It also passes every safety test that both CR and the IIHS could throw at it. The 2026 Acura ADX only comes as a traditional, gas-powered vehicle, so there’s no need to wonder whether these safety ratings stretch across a hybrid powertrain.

Unfortunately, Acura’s other compact SUV, the more expensive RDX, did not earn the same safety ratings. Much like the 2026 Hyundai Tucson Plug-In Hybrid, there is no inclination that the RDX passed IIHS front crash testing. That is the only knock against that particular SUV. Meanwhile, the 2026 Acura ADX did pass that test, along with every other. If you’re eyeing an Acura ADX as your next purchase, you’d be getting safety and luxury for a relatively bargain price, which certainly makes this vehicle a crowd pleaser.

For the final model on this list, we get what Consumer Reports considers to be the best overall luxury compact SUV: the 2026 Lexus NX. More specifically, it puts the NX Hybrid at the top, but the regular gas-powered version is right behind it at number two. Regardless of which powertrain you get, CR gives the vehicle its safety stamp of approval. All of the technological features you would need come standard, and the vehicle passed all the road and crash tests it was put through. The NX line were also among the most reliable models of their kind on the market as well, giving you plenty of confidence in how they will perform.

The 2026 Lexus NX does also come as a plug-in hybrid, but just as with the Hyundai Tucson, the plug-in hybrid model doesn’t get the highest possible safety rating score from Consumer Reports. It was not put through moderate overlap front crash tests by the IIHS, though it meets every other criteria otherwise; CR still has lists the plug-in hybrid model in the overall top five of luxury compact SUVs it tested. It becomes your own judgment whether you think it would pass those tests had it been put through them, as other 2026 Lexus NX models were able to do just that. For the ultimate certainty from Consumer Reports though, stick with the standard and hybrid NX models.