2025 Kia EV5 electric SUV: ANCAP safety rating confirmed for Tesla Model Y rival
12/12/2024 07:06 PM
The Kia EV5 electric SUV – the brand's first vehicle built in China for Australia – has scored five stars in independent ANCAP crash testing.
The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has awarded the 2025 Kia EV5 a five-star safety rating under its latest and most stringent 2023-25 criteria.
All variants of the Kia electric mid-size family SUV – the brand's first vehicle built in China for the Australian market – are covered by the rating, with all testing conducted in Australia by ANCAP.
ANCAP said maximum points were awarded for the protection of the driver in the side impact test, both child dummies in the frontal offset test, car-to-car AEB collision avoidance, its multi-collision braking system, vehicle submergence countermeasures, and the first-responder rescue sheet.
However, in adult occupant protection testing, the EV5 was identified to provide ‘adequate’ protection of the driver's chest and lower legs and ‘marginal’ protection of the upper legs.
While ‘good’ protection was identified for all other body regions of the driver and front passenger, the post-crash analysis found a small opening in the seam between the panels in the footwell with a penalty applied for loss of integrity in the footwell structure and a deduction applied to the driver's lower leg score.
ANCAP also found the structure of the dashboard could be a potential source of injury for the driver and front passenger.
In the full-width frontal test, 'adequate' protection of the chest of the rear passenger was identified, while the oblique pole test found 'marginal' protection for the driver's chest and 'adequate' protection for the abdomen.
ANCAP identifies six levels of protection in its testing: 'Good', 'adequate', 'marginal', 'weak', 'poor', and 'not tested'.
Head contact between the driver and front passenger was rated as 'poor' as the front-centre airbag – intended to protect against occupant-to-occupant collisions in a side-impact – did not provide sufficient protection in the oblique pole test.
'Adequate' prevention of movement towards the other side of the vehicle was identified in the far-side impact test, while the EV5 was identified as presenting a "lower risk" to an oncoming vehicle with a 1.0-point penalty out of eight applied.
Child occupant protection using dummies equivalent to a six-year-old and 10-year-old child found 'adequate' protection of the 10-year-old's head in the side-impact test, and 'good' results in all other tests for both dummies.
The EV5 is not fitted with a child presence detection system to alert the driver when a child may have been left in the rear passenger seat of the vehicle, with no points awarded.
Protection of the head of a struck pedestrian across most of the bonnet surface and windscreen was found to be 'adequate'.
'Marginal' and 'poor' results were recorded for the stiff windscreen pillar, rear of the bonnet, base of the windscreen, and front edge of the bonnet surface.
ANCAP also identified "mostly poor performance" for the protection of a pedestrian's pelvis, while protection of the femurs and lower leg was rated as 'good'.
Overall, the Kia EV5 scored 88 per cent for adult occupant protection, 86 per cent for child occupant protection, 74 per cent for vulnerable road user protection, and 82 per cent for safety assistance.
Minimum scores of 80 per cent, 80 per cent, 70 per cent, and 70 per cent are required, respectively, to achieve a five-star rating under the latest 2023-2025 ANCAP criteria.
"The Kia EV5 has been put through its paces, with notable areas of good performance as well as some areas we hope Kia will look to enhance," said ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.
MORE: 2025 Kia EV5 price and specs – Cheaper than a Tesla Model Y electric SUV
The 2025 Kia EV5 electric mid-size SUV launched in Australia in October after a several-month delay, priced between $56,770 and $71,770 before on-road costs to rival the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Toyota bZ4X, Subaru Solterra, Volkswagen ID.4, and others.
ANCAP today confirmed a five-star score for the new-generation Toyota LandCruiser Prado 250 Series, and a one-star rating for Australian and New Zealand versions of the Suzuki Swift hatch after structural differences between local and three-star European models were identified.
The Prado and EV5 tests were performed by ANCAP locally, while the Swift result is derived from a combination of Euro NCAP and ANCAP testing.
The post 2025 Kia EV5 electric SUV: ANCAP safety rating confirmed for Tesla Model Y rival appeared first on Drive.
