EURO NCAP Awards Five stars to the 2015 Kia Sorento

• Maximum safety rating for all-new Kia Sorento
• Significantly stronger body shell and wide range of active safety technology
• On sale across Europe in first half of 2015

The all-new Kia Sorento has been awarded the maximum five-star crash safety rating by Euro NCAP.

Kia’s new SUV scored highly in all four areas (90 percent Adult Occupant Protection, 83 percent Child Occupant Protection, 67 percent Pedestrian Protection and 71 percent Safety Assist) thanks to an even stronger body shell and a wide array of passive and active safety equipment.

The Sorento was praised in particular for a passenger compartment that remained stable in the event of a collision, with good protection for passengers of different statures no matter where they were seated in the car. All passengers – including those in the third row of seats – were also well protected from whiplash, while pedestrian impact was aided by the Sorento’s active deployable bonnet.

The structure of the new Sorento is significantly stronger, thanks in large part to the more widespread use of ultra-high tensile steel. The previous-generation model was made up of 24.4 percent ultra-high tensile steel (UHTS), while the body shell of the new model consists of 52.7 percent UHTS, aiding the integrity of the car’s core structure in the event of an impact and also improving torsional rigidity by 14 percent.

The new Sorento also features more than twice as much ultra-strong hot-stamped steel as the outgoing model, up from 4.1 percent to 10.1 percent in the new model, greatly strengthening the A- and B-pillars.

The high-tech Sorento also achieved a high score in the Safety Assist category. The new model’s standard-fit Vehicle Stability Management (VSM) system ensures the car remains stable when simultaneously braking and cornering, particularly on low-grip surfaces, by carefully controlling both the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and electric motor-driven power steering. Both systems are activated as soon as the car’s sensors detect a loss in traction, helping the driver to remain safely in control of the vehicle.

Buyers will also be able to choose from a wealth of ‘active’ safety technologies, including: ASCC (Adaptive Smart Cruise Control); LDWS (Lane Departure Warning System), which emits an audible alert when the driver strays from the chosen lane without using indicators, BSD (Blind-Spot Detection), with a visual warning in the door mirror when another car is in the driver’s blind spot; RCTA (Rear Cross-Traffic Alert), which warns against other cars driving behind the Sorento in car parks; and SLIF (Speed Limit Information Function), which displays the speed limit in the driver’s instrument cluster based on cameras detecting roadside signs.

The all-new Kia Sorento is due to go on sale across Europe in the first half of 2015.