ANCAP has confirmed a four-star safety rating for the latest generation Hyundai Kona. Assessed against ANCAP’s current 2023 to 2025 protocol criteria using test data from sister agency Euro NCAP, the rating applies to petrol, hybrid, and electric variants available in Australia. The Kona was limited to four stars because of its performance in the vulnerable road user protection and safety assist assessment areas. Thresholds of 70 per cent apply to qualify for five stars, but the Kona achieved scores of 64 per cent and 62 per cent in these areas respectively.
ADULT OCCUPANT PROTECTION: 80 PER CENT (32.13 OUT OF 40)
The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal offset (MPDB) test, with dummy readings indicating marginal protection for the driver’s chest and lower legs. Structures in the instrument panel and dashboard were a potential source of additional risk of injury to occupants, and protection of the driver and passenger upper legs was rated marginal. Protection was good for all other critical body regions for the driver and front passenger.
The front structure presented a lower risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle in the MPDB test (which evaluates vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility), and a 1.44-point penalty (out of eight points) was applied.
In the full width frontal test, protection of the driver chest was weak and the pelvis was rated poor. Dummy readings indicated that the driver’s pelvis slipped beneath the lap section of the seatbelt and the dummy was not properly restrained during the crash. Protection of the rear passenger was good for all critical body regions.
In the side impact and oblique pole tests, protection offered to all critical body regions was good and the Hyundai Kona scored maximum points.
The Kona is equipped with a centre airbag to protect against occupant-to-occupant interaction in side impacts and it provided good protection for the head of both front seat occupants. Prevention of excursion (movement towards the other side of the vehicle) in the far side impact tests was assessed as adequate for the vehicle-to-vehicle impact scenario and marginal for the vehicle-to-pole scenario.
A rescue sheet providing information for first responders in the event of a crash is available, and a multi-collision braking system is fitted. It was demonstrated that if the car entered water, the doors would remain functional for the minimum required time period, though window opening functionality was not demonstrated.
CHILD OCCUPANT PROTECTION: 84 PER CENT (41.62 OUT OF 49)
In the frontal offset test, protection of the 10-year dummy’s neck was weak, while protection offered to all other critical body regions of the six- and 10-year dummies was good.
In the side impact test, protection of all critical body areas was good for both child dummies, and maximum points were scored.
The Kona is fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages on the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions. An indirect child presence detection system, which provides an alert when a child may have been left in the vehicle, is fitted for all rear passenger seats as standard.
Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia showed most child restraints could be accommodated in most rear seating positions, though one of the selected Type A convertible seats could not be correctly installed in rearward facing mode in the centre rear position.
VULNERABLE ROAD USER PROTECTION: 64 PER CENT (40.85 OUT OF 63)
In physical impact tests, protection to the head of a pedestrian striking the bonnet or cyclist striking the windscreen was predominantly good or adequate, with marginal and poor results recorded at the base of the windscreen and on the stiff windscreen pillars.
Protection of the pelvis was poor, while protection of the femurs was mixed, with areas of predominantly poor and weak performance. Protection of the lower legs was good.
The autonomous emergency braking system (AEB) is capable of detecting and reacting to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Testing of this system showed adequate performance in forward pedestrian test scenarios, including turning scenarios, with collisions avoided or mitigated in most tests. However, performance in the night-time tests with higher travel speeds was reduced.
The AEB system in reverse (AEB back over) is available on some variants but was not standard on the tested vehicle, so these tests were not conducted.
Adequate performance was seen in cyclist test scenarios with collisions avoided or mitigated at most test speeds, but the AEB system did not react to bicycles while turning. A door opening warning system is standard but was not fitted to the test vehicle, so it was not scored.
Good performance was recorded in the AEB motorcycle tests including in turning scenarios, with adequate performance recorded in tests of the car-to-motorcycle lane support system.
SAFETY ASSIST: 62 PER CENT (11.17 OUT OF 18)
In addition to AEB, the Kona is fitted with a lane support system (LSS) with lane keep assist (LKA) and emergency lane keeping (ELK) functionality, and blind spot monitoring.
Tests of the AEB (car-to-car) system showed good performance with collisions avoided or mitigated in all test scenarios, including in the AEB Junction scenario where the test vehicle can autonomously brake to avoid crashes when turning across or into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Tests of the AEB head-on functionality showed marginal performance, and the standard AEB system does not react when crossing the path of another vehicle. A system with AEB crossing functionality is available on higher variants in Australia, but this was not tested.
Tests of LSS functionality showed good performance in lane keep assist scenarios, and adequate performance in the more critical ELK scenarios.
A speed assistance system with speed limit information function and intelligent speed limiter is standard, informing the driver of the local speed limit and allowing them to accept the change in speed accordingly.
A seatbelt reminder system is fitted to all seating positions, with occupancy detection available for the front passenger and rear outboard seating positions. The Kona is also fitted, as standard, with a direct driver monitoring system capable of detecting driver distraction and drowsiness.