Kia Seltos is one of the popular mid-size SUVs on sale in India. The Seltos got a generation update earlier this year, and it has been doing well in the market since then. Kia Seltos is not just available in India but also in many international markets, including South Korea. We all know that Kia Seltos scored a 5-star rating in the Bharat NCAP crash test. Korea also has a dedicated Korean NCAP test, and the Seltos scored a Grade 1 rating in the crash test.
The video has been shared by Korean NCAP on its official YouTube channel. Grade 1 doesn’t mean bad in Korean NCAP. It is actually the highest score, which is equal to the 5-star rating in Bharat NCAP. Just like Bharat NCAP, KNCAP also has multiple tests to assess the safety of the vehicle. In this case, the Kia Seltos sold in the Korean market underwent multiple crash tests. The first test was the front-impact safety test. In this test, the agency evaluates the degree of injury to front-seat occupants during a fixed-barrier frontal crash test at a speed of 56 km/h. We see the SUV crash into a wall. The front airbags opened on time, and the doors were also opening after the crash.
After the fixed-barrier test, the vehicle was sent for the car-to-car frontal crash safety test at a speed of 56 km/h. Even in this test, the SUV’s cabin stayed intact, and the airbags deployed on time. Just like Bharat NCAP, KNCAP also had the side-impact test at 60 km/h. The vehicle absorbed the impact pretty well, and in all these three tests, the structure of the vehicle stayed intact. We could see that the safety features meant to keep the occupants safe were all working fine. It even performed well in the side-pole impact test. Kia Seltos scored a total of 87.4 percent.
When compared to the Indian version, the Kia Seltos in Korea is available with 9 airbags as standard. This actually helped the SUV in the crash test too. After the crash test, the Seltos had to undergo tests to check child occupant safety and pedestrian safety. In this test, they also checked the efficiency of the Level 2 ADAS features that the Seltos comes with.
In the video, we can see that the automatic emergency braking was working as intended for pedestrians and cyclists. However, if you look closely, things started getting tricky when the pedestrian and cyclist suddenly came in front of the vehicle. We see that the vehicle did apply the brakes, but it couldn’t avoid the impact. It is because of this reason that the Seltos scored 75.1% in vulnerable road user safety and 73.8% in accident prevention safety.
Overall, the SUV performed well, and it scored a total Grade 1 rating, which is given to any vehicle that scores over 82 points out of 100.
The Seltos that was sent for the crash test was the strong-hybrid variant, which comes with a 1.6-litre hybrid powertrain and all the safety features, including ADAS. Kia will be bringing the strong-hybrid technology to India, but it is likely to be offered with a smaller 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine. The Seltos hybrid will debut in India only after the next-gen Hyundai Creta’s launch.