Kia Carens Safety Crash Test Ratings Out – Why Are We Disappointed?

The Maruti Ertiga-rivaling Kia Carens is one of the most VFM MPVs in India

The Kia Carens was launched in India a few months ago and ever since the launch, is bringing in high sales volume every month. The car takes on the rivals like the Hyundai Alcazar, Maruti Ertiga, Maruti XL6, and the Mahindra Marazzo. The Carens not only boasts impressive features and in-cabin design but in addition to this, also offers many safety features like 6-airbags, a Tyre pressure monitoring system, electronic stability control, etc as a standard part of the package. Despite having all these safety techs and features, the Kia Carens safety crash test ratings released by GNCAP a couple of days were not very impressive. With a GNCAP safety star rating of three out of five, the Carens was also said to have an unstable body shell. Here is why we are not very happy with the performance of the Carens in the safety crash tests.

2022 Kia Carens Safety Crash Test

As per GNCAP, the Carens was tested in its most basic safety specification. For those wondering, this means that the absolute base variant of the Carens was subjected to the crash test and had all the standard safety features that include six airbags, ESC, seatbelt pretensioners, ABS, all-wheel disc brakes, brake assist system and TPMS. GNCAP also shared that the Kia Carens was the last car subjected to a crash test before enhanced testing protocols are implemented. Coming back, the Carens secured a total of 9.30 points out of 17 in adult occupant protection. The MPV however scored 30.99 out of 49 points in the child occupant protection. It is worth noting that the Carens is equipped with ISOFIX mounting points that are easy to access and are well marked. The crash test scores reveal that the overall protection offered to the dummy of a three-year-old in a forward-facing child seat was limited while the dummy of a 1.5-year in rear-facing child seats had good protection. A lap belt for the rear centre passenger further helped Carens lose some crucial points in the safety tests.

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GNCAP further stated that the Kia Carens has an unstable structure and footwell area while the bodyshell was not capable of ‘withstanding further loadings’. The adult crash test dummies had good head and neck protection but the driver’s chest protection was rated to be marginal. The overall front occupant knee protection was marginal due to the potential impact with ‘dangerous structures behind the dashboard’. Furthermore, the side body and head protection airbags helped this 7-seater MPV pass the side impact tests without any major fuss. While the ratings are slightly better than the Kia Seltos which also received three stars with an unstable body shell, we still expect better results in terms of safety.

Kia in the international markets has enough models on sale that scored a perfect five-star rating but is yet to replicate the results with the Indian-spec cars. It clearly signifies that the Korean carmaker is somewhere cutting corners which makes the Indian Kia cars less safe. Despite having six airbags and a long list of other safety features, the Kia Carens did not score great ratings and it definitely is time for Kia to review its strategy for the Indian market and should consider offering safer cars in the Indian market.

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