The all-new Kia Sportage receives IIHS’ Top Safety Pick+

The American counterpart of the all-new Kia Sportage that was locally launched early April 2016 receives a recognition – the Top Safety Pick Plus (TSP+). It's the highest designation possible from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS).

The compact crossover aced all the 5 crashworthiness tests, as well as the integration of driver assistance technologies to aid in crash prevention.

This is while the parameters of the IIHS testing were changed for 2016. Each vehicles should get “good” ratings in the 5 crashworthiness tests – small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side impact, roof strength, and head restraints. Furthermore, to be able to qualify for TSP+, they should also get “advanced” or “superior” rating on front crash prevention.

The structure of the all-new Sportage has been greatly improved due to their extensive use of Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS). 51% of its body-in-white consists of AHSS, while its predecessor only uses 18%. This improved the torsional rigidity by 39%.

In addition to that, the top-of-the-line variant has a lot of driving-assistance safety features like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Blind Spot Detection (BSD) with Lane Change Assist (LCA), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), and Bi-HID headlights with Dynamic Bending Light (DBL) technology, High-Beam Assist (HBA), and front and rear parking assist.

Locally though, not all these features are available here, but the winning Sportage is pretty much the same as what we have in terms of the body structure at a price that ranges from P1,445,000 to P1,795,000. It’s nice to know that these companies continue to commit themselves to the safety of their customers, specially the all-new models.

For more information about the all-new Kia Sportage, visit the AutoDeal Car Guide.