Dedicated more and more to European market, Kia is building cars to fulfill clients requirements in terms of comfort, technology and, most important, safety. The clients want to buy a safe car, and Kia is demonstrating concern on this matter. The all-new Kia Optima and Kia Sportage have both been awarded the maximum five-star crash safety rating by Euro NCAP.
Both the Optima and Sportage scored particularly highly for adult protection, scoring 89 per cent and 90 per cent respectively, with child occupant protection also rated highly at 86 per cent for younger Optima passengers and 83 per cent for those in the Sportage.
The Optima was praised in particular for its ability to offer uniformly high levels of protection to all occupants during the frontal offset test and in the event of a side barrier impact, no matter the size of passenger or where they were sitting in the car. The Sportage – Kia’s European best-selling compact crossover – was also commended for its ability to protect passengers of different statures in all seats, scoring highly in the demanding side pole test.
Active safety assist technologies were also tested, resulting in both cars scoring 71 per cent in the ‘Safety Assist’ category,
Both new models are available with a variety of optional safety technologies including: Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS), High Beam Assist (HBA), Speed Limit Information Function (SLIF), Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA). The all-new Optima is available with Advanced Smart Cruise Control, which automatically adjusts the car’s speed to maintain a safe distance from the vehicles in front.
