Five-star safety for Kia's new Sorento

KIA's third-generation Sorento SUV has received a maximum five-star score for crash safety from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) following a disappointing four-star result from its Carnival people-mover earlier this year.

The Sorento achieved 36.62 out of a possible 37 for its overall score, which includes 15.62 out of 16 in the frontal offset crash test and a full 16 out of 16 in the side impact test. Additionally, it achieved full marks in the pole test and for having seatbelt reminders.

The South Korean car-maker touted the new Sorento's high-strength body-shell made from ultra-high tensile steel, when it revealed the Sorento at last year's Paris motor show, which it says has resulted in increased torsional rigidity and safety.

The list of safety features available in Kia's new large SUV includes electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), side airbags for first and second row passengers, seatbelt reminders, reversing collision avoidance and a roll stability system, standard across all variants.

The previous-generation Sorento also scored five stars from ANCAP, achieving 13.25 out of 16 points in the offset crash test, 15.96 out of 16 in the side impact crash test, and additional points in the pole test and for having seatbelt reminders for a total of 33.21 points out of 37.

Kia's last submission to ANCAP was its Carnival people-mover earlier this year, which only scored four stars due to the omission of a second-row seatbelt warning and a score of 10.48 points out of 16 in the frontal offset crash test.

At the time, Kia Motors Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith said the data from the Carnival ANCAP result had already been sent to Kia's research and development centre in Korea following the test to engineer a fix “as soon as possible”.

“The R&D team will now have an opportunity to fully explore and analyse this result, and once that process has been completed KMAu will be in a better position to comment further,” he said in March.

KMAu general manager of media and corporate communications Kevin Hepworth said the five-star rating was a boon for the Korean car-maker.

“Naturally we are very happy with the result.” he said. “It was what we aimed for and what we hoped for.”

ANCAP chief executive officer Nicholas Clarke highlighted the importance of safety for potential new-car buyers.

“Consumers should continue to look for cars which have been awarded the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating,” he said.

“ANCAP requirements continually increase encouraging manufacturers to provide consumers with safer cars.” Other large SUVs that have scored five stars include the Ford Territory, the Nissan Pathfinder, Jeep Cherokee, Toyota Kluger, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero, Hyundai Santa Fe and Holden Colorado 7.