Safety and reliability: Kia

By Martin Pretorius 

Only ten years ago, it probably would have been safe to say that no observer would ever predict the arrival of a turbo-charged, rear-wheel drive Kia sports saloon with all the appropriate attributes to confront Europe's finest. And yet, here we are: this Korean manufacturer has risen from its humble origins as purveyor of bargain-basement, old-fashioned mass-market fodder to start sniffing at the establishment's doorsteps.

And it's not just the forthcoming Stinger which has changed the public's perception of Kias either, because the entire product range has improved with giant leaps. They're now well-made, well-engineered products, and this is reflected in their reliability ratings which are now counted among the world's best, along with solid safety credentials.

Safety

Perhaps Kia's rapid safety improvements can be attributed to the company's growing market share in the USA, where strict federal safety regulations combine with the increasing marketing value of a strong showing in NHTSA testing. Early-generation Ceratos put up dismal performances in these stringent US tests, but as from the previous generation (the first one with the attractive “tiger-nose” styling), this range has turned in class-competitive scores.

Meanwhile in Europe, the little (and very popular) Picanto performs well in crash testing, with even the base-specification versions (such as the ones we have) get a respectable (for its class) 3-star Euro-NCAP rating for all variants except the bare-bones “Start” derivative. The larger Kias also do exceptionally well, with Sportage and Sorento both getting 5 stars. Worst of the bunch is the Soul, and even there, you'll get a 4-star rating. 

Reliability

Very old Kias (such as the first-generation Sportage) probably didn't do too badly in the reliability stakes, because they used well-proven drivetrain components and platforms from old Mazdas, and there wasn't much to go wrong. Then things went somewhat belly-up when they started the switch to in-house mechanical parts, with especially the first Sedona's V6 engine being notorious for poor reliability. Things started to change for the better when Kia came under Hyundai's umbrella, as pooling their resources eventually led to a series of well-resolved products with few serious design flaws. 

So dramatic has Kia's turnaround been that they now find themselves right at the top of the US-based J.D. Power Initial Quality Study in 2016 and 2017. The results are similar in various British- and European surveys as well. It would be interesting to see how Kia would perform in the local  IPSOS quality survey, but it seems like Kia hasn't taken part as yet – hopefully that will change soon, as they should do also well locally.

From a dreary, half-baked alternative brand to a mainstream, near-premium contender, Kia has literally crossed the divide which separated the best from the rest. Class-leading reliability, competitive safety ratings, and vastly improved design and quality all contribute to Kia's newfound respectability. Buyers are taking note as well, as reflected in steadily-improving sales figures for many of their model ranges. This is deserved success, we'd say.