Kia dismayed by Carnival's four-star rating

Kia Australia has admitted to being "extremely surprised" in a press release issued today, following the announcement by ANCAP that the new Carnival people mover has failed to achieve five stars during the latest round of crash testing.

In the press release, COO for the importer, Damien Meredith, was quoted saying that Kia will "abide by the umpire's decision" however.

While Kia Australia did anticipate a four-star rating for the new Carnival, based on the lack of rear seat-belt reminders, the company has been flummoxed by ANCAP's finding the Carnival's crash resistance is not up to scratch for a five-star rating. Previously the Carnival has performed well in American crash testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

"We are obviously extremely surprised by the outcome ANCAP announced today," Meredith said. "It was definitely unexpected as all indications from internal data and the car's excellent performance in the North American Highway Safety Institute's testing, led us to believe there would be a five-star outcome."

Kia will send the ANCAP crash test data to the company's head office for analysis by its R&D team, with a view to upgrading the Carnival's crash safety at the earliest opportunity.

"The R&D team will now have an opportunity to fully explore and analyse this result, and once that process has been completed KMAu will be in a better position to comment further," Meredith said.

For its part, ANCAP – the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme – was scathing. The crash safety testing authority pointed to weaknesses in the Carnival's front structure exposed during the testing process. Those flaws comprised "excessive movement of the park and foot brake pedals and significant footwell deformation" and would lead to "heightened risk of serious injury to the legs and feet of the driver".

In the IIHS study, the Carnival was rated a 'Top Safety Pick', scoring 'Good' scores in every single test carried out.