The India-spec Kia Seltos misses out on some active safety features that the Australian-spec Seltos gets but other than that, the two models are comparable.
The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) recently crash tested the Kia Seltos. The Kia Seltos has faired very well indeed with a 5-star safety rating from the ANCAP. These models of the Seltos are in sale only in Australia and New Zealand and they get a few active safety features as standard which the India-spec model misses out on. However, the results for adult and child occupants, as well as pedestrian head, upper leg, and lower leg impact should be comparable with the India-spec Seltos.
In the Adult Occupant Protection category, the Seltos scored an impressive 85%. This test involves frontal and side crash testing. ANCAP found that during frontal offset tests, there was some intrusion in the passenger compartment in the driver’s footwell near the accelerator. Thus the driver’s lower leg protection was rated ‘weak’. Chest protection for the driver was ‘adequate’, as was lower leg protection for the passenger. Other than this, the protection of vital organs of the driver and front passenger was rated ‘good’. In the full width frontal tests, the protection was ‘good’ for all body parts except the driver’s pelvis, which got ‘poor’ protection.
Child occupant protection was rated at 83%. This test was performed with two child dummies in the rear seat — a 6-year-old in a car seat, and a 10-year old in a booster seat. The former had ‘adequate’ head and neck protection, though the 10-year old had ‘poor’ neck protection in frontal offset tests. All other body parts of child occupants had ‘good’ protection otherwise.
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ANCAP also tests cars for pedestrian protection. This involves five tests: pedestrian head, upper leg, and lower leg impact with the front of the car; and two tests of autonomous emergency braking (AEB). The bonnet of the Seltos provides ‘marginal’ protection to the pedestrian’s head, the rear of the bonnet provides ‘poor’ protection. Protection to the pedestrian’s upper and lower leg was ‘good’. The Seltos’ AEB system can detect pedestrians in both day and night, but it lacks cyclist detection. The car scored 4.13 out of 6 in the former test.
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It must be noted that higher-spec Seltos in the Australian market even come with radar-based active safety features. In India however, such features are still a distant dream as these technologies can be expensive and prohibitive for new car buyers. The India-spec Kia Seltos does not even get side and curtain airbags as a standard feature. However, it is very important that Indian consumers grow more aware about automotive safety and how essential and effective it can be. Meanwhile, the 5-star safety rating of the Kia Seltos by ANCAP can give Indian consumers some peace of mind.
