Kia Seltos has scored the highest five-star rating in the crash test conducted by Australia's independent vehicle safety authority ANCAP Safety. The rating applies to all variants of the Seltos SUV available in Australia and New Zealand. Kia Seltos was launched in these regions back in October 2019.
The Australia-spec Kia Seltos achieved 5-star rating in all four key areas of assessment, ANCAP Safety said in a statement. The SUV scored 85 per cent in adult occupant protection (32.50 points out of 38), 83 per cent in child occupant protection (40.91 points out of 49), 61 per cent in vulnerable road user protection (29.33 points out of 48), and 70 per cent in safety assist (9.11 points out of 13).
Kia Seltos comes with dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags as standard across all variants in Australia and New Zealand. A lane keep assist system (LKA) with lane departure warning (LDW) and emergency lane keeping (ELK) is also standard-issue for all variants.
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All Kia Seltos variants in Australia and New Zealand come with autonomous emergency braking (city and interurban), ANCAP said. A more advanced AEB radar-fusion system is available as an option on S, Sport and LX variants, and standard on higher variants. Variants fitted with the more advanced AEB system achieve improved scores compared to the camera-only system fitted to base models, ANCAP clarified.
"The Seltos has performed well, but it is important consumers are aware that there are some differences in safety performance for the entry-level Seltos variants," said ANCAP Chief Executive, James Goodwin.
"Base models of the Seltos miss out on some of the more advanced features available with the radar-fusion AEB system, and we would encourage consumers to purchase a variant which offers the enhanced collision avoidance capability as this can translate to real differences on the road," he added.
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