Kia’s award-winning Carnival people-mover has won an ANCAP safety upgrade from four stars to five following a re-testing of the car earlier this year. Launched just on 12 months ago, the Carnival was rated four-stars in the initial crash test, a result that Kia Motors Australia Chief Operating Officer Damien Meredith described at the time as “disappointingâ€.
Meredith committed Kia to lifting the score to the maximum five stars and said the success of that program is a “very satisfying†outcome.
“At the time of the original test it is fair to say that we were disappointed, but safety is a non-negotiable for Kia and the determination of all involved to retain Kia Motors Australia’s record of an all five-star model line-up was admirable,†Meredith said. ANCAP Chief Executive Officer James Goodwin said: “After a disappointing four-star result for the Carnival in March last year, Kia has worked to implement a number of safety improvements which saw the vehicle reach the five-star mark.
“A number of design changes to the Carnival saw the score in the frontal offset test increase substantially.â€
The Frontal Offset crash test result increased from 10.48 to 14.29 out of 16 points. The Kia Carnival is the first vehicle to meet ANCAP requirements to be awarded a 2016 date stamped ANCAP safety rating. The five-star rating applies to all variants of the Carnival manufactured on or after December 23, 2015. The Carnival scored a total of 34.62 in the latest test, with substantial improvements in the frontal off-set test to go along with the perfect 16 out of 16 for the side impact rating and two out of two for the pole test.
Since its launch, the all-new Carnival has regained its dominance as Australia’s number one selling people-mover with a 34.4 per cent share of the under $60,000 market.