I reviewed a Fusion Hybrid last year. I think it is a great family vehicle.
http://carseatblog.com/25140/2014-ford-fusion-hybrid-video-review-kids-carseats-safety/
I would have no qualms selecting the Fusion on the basis of safety over many small and midsize SUVs.
If you don't need a third row of seating, another great choice is the Subaru Forester in the compact SUV class, especially when equipped with the Eyesight collision mitigation system. It's one of the best frontal crash mitigation systems out there, on par with some on luxury class vehicles costing twice as much. For fuel economy and safety, I really like the 2014 Highlander Hybrid all around as well, but it's $50,000 :-(
There are no driver death rates for individual new vehicles within the last 5 years or so. Prior to that, small 2WD SUVs racked up a class rate of 41, only marginally lower than midsize sedans that came in around 51 as a class that is right around average for all vehicles. I don't place much emphasis on these results, since they only loosely correlate with driver safety (and minimal information on passenger safety, accident avoidance or crashworthiness). Nonetheless, the Fusion was actually a top performer in the most recent IIHS driver death rate survey that covered 2008 models year vehicles, with a very low rate of 23, about the same as the 2WD CR-V. Unfortunately, like many models, I think both have been substantially redesigned since so the most recent IIHS fatality data is not very helpful in any case.
As a trend, though, even the older IIHS data has some information. Mini and small sedans/wagons, 2-door vehicles and most sports cars have higher than average death rates, though some of this is due to driver demographics. Most other classes of vehicles are about average more or less, especially given the wide ranges and margins of error for individual vehicles. The lowest death rates are found in 4WD SUVs, luxury cars and minivans.