ANCAP applauds Kia Optima, Suzuki Vitara

Both the Kia Optima and Suzuki Vitara have netted top ratings from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP).

"This opens the door for families and fleet buyers in the market for a replacement medium-size passenger car with top safety credentials," said James Goodwin, ANCAP CEO, praising the Kia sedan, which has been available in Australia since late last year.

"The Optima provides a high level of standard active safety features including all three grades of autonomous emergency braking, and demonstrated good performance in all crash and safety assist performance tests."

As the pictures here indicate, ANCAP rated the Optima on the strength of data from crash testing conducted by Euro NCAP, but the Vitara was actually tested in Australia by the local authority.

Goodwin acknowledged that "the Vitara performed well in physical crash testing and includes reversing collision avoidance and a manual speed limiter as standard", despite ANCAP's corporate view that the Suzuki should be fitted with autonomous emergency braking, as is the case with the Vitara sold in other markets.

The Vitara for Australia, which was launched in September last year, also lacks other safety-assist technology such as "lane support systems, adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring."
Crash results summary

Kia Optima
Occupant protection
Head / neck: 4.00 points
Chest: 4.00 points
Upper legs: 4.00 points
Lower legs: 3.91 points

Side Impact Test
Head: 4.00 points
Chest: 4.00 points
Abdomen: 4.00 points
Pelvis: 4.00 points

Seat Belt Reminders: 3.00 points

Total: 34.91 points

Suzuki Vitara
Occupant Protection
Head / neck: 4.00 points
Chest: 3.15 points
Upper legs: 4.00 points
Lower legs: 3.64 points

Side Impact Test
Head: 4.00 points
Chest: 4.00 points
Abdomen: 4.00 points
Pelvis: 4.00 points

Pole Test: 2.00 points
Seat Belt Reminders: 3.00 points

Total: 35.79 points