Are some compact SUVs safer than others for women? Yes, we believe so. But before we give you our list, let’s first talk about that we mean when we say “compact SUV.”

Compact SUVs have been on the market since the early eighties. They are sporty and convenient. They have nice passenger and cargo space. But how do we define this class of automobile? It’s a little complicated.

A compact SUV is bigger than a mini SUV and smaller than a midsize SUV. Beyond this generalization, there is no official definition or size or dimensions or weight for this class. Typically, a crossover is built on a car chassis, while an SUV uses a truck chassis. Within the compact SUV market, this isn’t always the case. Some manufacturers have used a passenger car body to build their compact SUV. So the definition is a bit blurry. Suffice it to say, we have done our best to give you a list of the safest compact SUVs based on our analysis.

Using actual fatal crash data, the scientists at The Auto Professor looked at the driver fatality rates of vehicles by the characteristics of the driver. We grade the safety of the vehicle by how well it protected women versus men and older versus younger drivers. We did this because there really is a difference in vehicle safety due to our biological differences. Learn more in our blog Why Women Need More Protection in Cars.

Safest Compact SUVs for Female Drivers

You, as the driver, can use the Auto Grade search engine to find our safety rating for nearly any vehicle. To make your search more convenient, we compiled the following table of our top picks for female drivers of popular compact SUVs. It’s important to notice that no compact SUV earned an A or A- for female drivers over 50 years of age.

In other words, these smaller, popular SUVs do not have a very good track record for protecting older women in a crash.

Consequently, we only created lists for the age groups 31-50 and 16-30. These are popular vehicles that had lots of data to generate an Auto Grade safety rating of A or A- for protecting the female driver the best.

Popular Compact SUVs Model Years 2018-2022 with Auto Grades A or A- for Female Drivers Ages 31-50 Years Old

• Jeep Cherokee
• Jeep Renegade
• Nissan Rogue
• Toyota RAV4
• Chevrolet Equinox

The following list shows popular compact SUVs that earned an A or A- Auto Grade for female drivers 16 to 30 years old.

Popular Compact SUVs Model Years 2018-2022 with Auto Grades A or A- for Female Drivers 16-30 Years Old

• Jeep Cherokee
• Jeep Renegade
• Chevrolet Trax
• Kia Sportage
• Hyundai Tucson
• Honda CR-V

These lists offer you, the driver and buyer, a good starting point for picking the best compact SUV for you. Always be sure to use the search menu to get your own Auto Grade for any vehicle you own or are considering buying.