Kia Magentis earns five-star safety rating

I didn’t really think I would ever be typing the words Kia and five-star safety rating in the same sentence, but stranger things have happened, so I am not as surprised as usual. The Kia Magentis (known as the Optima in the USA and some other markets) has earned the highest possible safety rating – five stars – for all seating positions in the latest frontal and side impact crash tests conducted by the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Seriously though, we have to take a deep breath and really give Kia the big thumbs up, because to have come from such low levels of safety to take the best possible rating in such a short time is quite an achievement and I only hope sales ofthe new Magentis will reflect this.

The Magentis comes with six standard airbags, including full-length side-curtain airbags.

“We are extremely pleased and not at all surprised with the performance of Optima (Magentis) and its resulting five-star rating in NHTSA’s recent testing,” said Len Hunt, executive vice president and COO of Kia Motors America.

“The latest five-star rating is further evidence of our commitment to building high quality vehicles with unprecedented levels of standard safety and convenience features.”

In Australia, the new Kia Magentis offers standard safety equipment across all three models -

• anti-lock brakes (ABS) with electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) and emergency brake assist (EBA),
• electronic stability program (ESP) with traction control,
• dual front SRS airbags,
• side SRS airbags,
• curtain SRS airbags,
• pre-tensioner front seatbelts and active headrests.

Thats more than most Australian made cars.

Kia is quick to point out that no other car in the medium segment offers such a complete package of safety equipment, whilst really that is not exactly true as cars like the Subaru Liberty tend to offer the same level of safety, albeit perhaps missing the electronic stability program (ESP) with traction control, nonetheless Subaru;s permanent AWD technology counters that.

You can read more about the features of the Kia Magentis here