2022 Kia Sportage scores five stars in ANCAP crash tests

The 2022 Kia Sportage has become the latest medium SUV to be awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Having launched towards the back end of last year, Kia's popular SUV is now backed by ANCAP, with the Sportage meeting the crash test authority's stringent 2020-2022 test regulations.

“The new Kia Sportage has already proven to be a popular choice for fleets and families, and Kia is to be congratulated for achieving another five-star safety rating against ANCAP’s 2020-2022 protocols,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.

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Scoring particularly well for child occupant protection, the Sportage took 42.73 out of 49 available points for a 87 per cent score, owing to its strong results in the front dynamic test (15.70/16), side dynamic test (7.80/8) and restraint installation (11.24/12).

An identical 87 per cent result was achieved in the adult occupant protection category, with a total of 33.43 from 38 points on offer.

The Sportage managed either perfect scores or within a point of full marks in every test bar the frontal offset crash, where it still managed a respectable 6.38 out of eight.

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Next-best was the Sportage's safety assist systems, with a 74 per cent score attributed to 11.90 out of 16 points being scored.

Again, a majority of tests resulted in points totals within one of full marks, however its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) junction assist system wasn't evaluated due to it not being fitted to the test vehicle in Europe – despite being a standard feature in Australia and New Zealand, leading to a loss of two points.

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The lack of a working AEB system in reversing situations caused the Sportage's vulnerable road user protection score to be the lowest of the four categories, ending up with a 66 per cent rating after taking 36.10 points out of 54.

Although it lost two points due to the AEB pedestrian backover test not being conducted, the bigger hit was taken in the upper leg impact test, recording its lowest individual score so far with 1.65 points out of six – head impacts were also a marginal pass with 16.16 points from 24.

Last month the Sportage was the seventh best-selling vehicle in the Australian new car market, recording 2044 sales throughout June – a 137 per cent rise over the same month last year.