Kia Carens Scores 3 Stars In Global NCAP Yet Again

This score follows a worrying 0-star adult occupant protection score for an older version of the Carens MPV

The Kia Carens has been crash-tested in Global NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) again and it came out with the same 3-star safety rating. In fact it has been crash-tested twice since its first GNCAP score in 2022. Two different variants of the MPV were tested, one was manufactured in December 2023, which got a 3-star rating, and another which got manufactured in May 2023, which only scored 1 star from GNCAP. Here is a detailed report of both crash tests.

Adult Occupant Protection

Frontal Impact (64 kmph)

The December 2023 Carens had a better performance in the crash test due to one simple reason. The seatbelt restraints of the May 2023 Carens were not good enough to hold the driver and passenger in place, resulting in a higher chance of severe injury in a frontal crash. 

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Due to this reason, the May 2023 Carens got 0 out of 34 in adult occupant protection (AOP) resulting in a 0-star AOP safety rating. However, this issue was fixed in the December 2023 Carens, and it scored 22.07 out of 34, resulting in a 3-star AOP safety rating.

Side Impact (50 kmph)

In the side impact tests, both the May 2023 and December 2023 variants of the Carens got good overall protection.

Side Pole Impact

The side pole impact test was not conducted for either variants of the Carens.

Child Occupant Protection

Frontal Impact

In the case of the 18-month-old child dummy, the child seat was mounted rearward and was able to provide full protection to the head. In this test, the Carens got 8 out of 8 points. For the 3-year-old child dummy, the child seat was also mounted facing rearward and offered almost full protection. Here, the Carens scored 7.92 points out of 8.

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Meanwhile, the December 2023 Carens improved for full protection for both children dummies for a full 8 points, and this incremental change is key to bump up the Kia MPV’s child safety score up from 4 to 5 stars.

Side Impact

The child restraint system offered full side impact protection in both cases, for both versions of the Kia Carens MPV.

Overall Scores

While the May 2023 Carens did get 4 stars in child occupant protection, due to the 0-star adult occupant protection rating, its overall safety rating came down to just 1 star. The December 2023 Carens, on the other hand, scored 5 stars in child occupant protection and 3 stars in adult occupant protection, resulting in an overall 3-star crash test safety rating. However, in case of both these variants, the bodyshell integrity was rated unstable, which means they can’t withstand any further impacts.

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This score highlights the same fact once again: the number of airbags is not the deciding factor for a safer car.

Kia Carens’ Safety Kit

The Kia Carens comes with 6 standard airbags and also gets many standard safety features like ABS with EBD, electronic stability control (ESC), vehicle stability management (VSM), brake assist, hill hold assist, all-wheel disc brakes, a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), and rear parking sensors.

Variants & Price

The Kia Carens comes in 10 broad variants: Premium, Premium (O), Prestige, Prestige (O), Prestige Plus, Prestige Plus (O), Luxury, Luxury (O), Luxury Plus, and X-Line. It is priced from Rs 10.52 lakh to Rs 19.67 lakh (ex-showroom), and is a rival to the Maruti Ertiga, Toyota Rumion, and Maruti XL6.

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