Kia Cerato scores four and five star safety ratings from ANCAP

Kia’s volume-selling Cerato small car has come away from the crash test concrete with a split decision on its safety rating.

The Australiasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) awarded the Cerato S and Cerato Sport versions a four-star safety rating while all other Cerato variants, including the GT, won a five-star classification.

Kia Motors Australia spokesman Kevin Hepworth said the company was very happy with the results as “the Cerato is still an extremely safe car”.

ANCAP agrees. Its chief executive, James Goodwin, said the Cerato performed well in its protection of adult and child occupants, scoring 90 and 83 percent respectively.

All Ceratos have comprehensive safety equipment including autonomous emergency braking (AEB).

All Ceratos have comprehensive safety equipment including autonomous emergency braking (AEB). The four-star rating was given to the entry-level Cerato versions because ANCAP said its AEB system “offers reduced performance”.

ANCAP said today that the Cerato S and Cerato Sport are fitted as standard with a camera-only AEB system.

It said this system is not designed to react to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists and reduced the scoring of the two versions in the ‘Safety Assist and Vulnerable Road User Protection’ areas of the assessment, so reducing the rating to four stars. 

“A more advanced camera and radar fusion AEB system is standard on all other variants and available as an optional safety pack on the S and Sport,” ANCAP said.

The S and Sport versions were awarded a four-star safety rating, with an optional Safety Pack getting you some of the safety gear offered in the 5-star varaints.

Mr Hepworth said the optional safety pack was $1000 and was a popular purchase by Cerato S and Sport buyers. It includes features such as lane departure warning and rear cross-traffic alert.

Mr Goodwin said ANCAP strongly encourages buyers to select vehicles which offer collision avoidance technologies like AEB, however he said consumers should be aware there can be differences in performance across brands, models and variants.

“Kia should be commended for offering an affordable vehicle which meets today’s demanding five-star requirements and we would recommend consumers opt for a five-star variant as they provide added safety benefit to all road users,” he said.

The tests were done on sedan versions but the same rating applies to the hatch variants because the body structure is identical. 

The Cerato S and Sport scored 90 percent for ‘adult occupant protection’ and 83 percent for ‘child occupant protection’.

The Cerato S and Sport scored 90 percent for ‘adult occupant protection’, 83 percent for ‘child occupant protection’, 55 per cent for ‘vulnerable road user protection’ and 71 per cent for ‘safety assist’. 

By comparison, the other versions scored the same results in adult and child protection, but 72 percent for ‘vulnerable road user protection’ protection and 73 percent for ‘safety assist’.

Kia will launch two new versions of the Cerato GT in sedan and hatch this week, along with a new Picanto GT.

Check out all 2019 Kia Cerato price and spec info here.

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