Safety fixes coming for four-star Carnival

Structural changes made to the new-generation Kia Carnival in response to a disappointing four-star ANCAP test are in production and will flow into Australian dealerships at the end of July.

But Kia is making no claims about whether the large people-mover is now a five-star crash safety performer, preferring to wait until ANCAP re-tests the car.

At this stage that process is under discussion with no set timing confirmed for the re-test at Crashlab in Sydney.

"We won't be claiming any improvement until such time as Mr Clarke [ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Mr Nicholas Clarke] comes out and announces it," said Kia Australia media and corporate communications general manager Kevin Hepworth.

"We got castigated after the first one because we believed what we were told by our engineers and their internal crash test results.

"We have learned from that."

In the original test 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".

The result caught Kia by surprise, as in left-hand drive form the new Carnival had performed very well in US crash testing.

It had anticipated a four star ANCAP result, but only because there were no rear seatbelt reminders. That issue has also now been addressed.

"There were two areas where the car fell down," explained Hepworth. "There was a bracket attached to the foot brake that was – according to our Korean engineers – designed to stop that from moving. In the initial crash there was movement in the foot brake which intruded into the foot space so there was a risk of injury to the foot.

"The other thing was the pad underneath the steering wheel and there was knee strike on those. They had a hard point behind them and they were not collapsible.

"There has been a redesigned bracket that has been applied to the foot brake and I think on the knee situation they have made collapsible points on the brackets.

"Those fixes were started on June 3, so the cars that go on-sale at the end of this month [in Australia] will have them applied to them."

In the wake of the Carnival's issues Hepworth said he was not aware of any review of the processes Kia implements when designing right-hand drive versions of vehicles.

According to VFACTS, the Carnival is the second-most popular people-mover in the category, only a few sales behind the Honda Odyssey and nearly 50 per cent ahead of 2014 sales to the end of June.