ANCAP conducts crash test audit on Kia Picanto
Mixed results for city car prompt third crash test for compact model.
Australia's crash authority has investigated a dramatic gap in European and Asian crash test results by re-evaluating the new Kia Picanto.
The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) conducted a test of the Picanto in Sydney on Wednesday as part of an audit of Euro NCAP and ASEAN NCAP.
The Kia Picanto currently has a five-star rating under the ANCAP system, four stars through Euro NCAP and zero stars with ASEAN ANCAP, as the car does not come with airbags in some markets.
ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin says there were significant differences in the Picanto's performance in different parts of the world. The car performed well in Europe, but Malaysian testing saw the car's door fly open, exposing parts of the crash test dummy.
The ASEAN car also offered inferior structural technology, with its roof and A-pillar buckling under the force of the crash.
That didn't happen in Europe.
"We need to confirm the validity of existing results," Goodwin says.
"We are concerned that a brand would be making different assessments in the value of a life for different countries."
While the door stayed closed in Australian testing this week, the Picanto's body buckled more in Sydney than it did in Europe.
While Goodwin says it is too early to issue a result for the Picanto, he says the Kia's body "deformed more than the European test but no more than the ASEAN test".
Final results due in coming weeks will show whether structural integrity is the same across different regions.
Goodwin says ANCAP purchased the car secretly through a broker, and that Kia was not informed of the test until after the car was prepared for testing.
Several Kia Australia representatives attended the frontal offset collision today, including a pair of engineers who flew in from Seoul.
A spokesman for the car maker says it respects the audit process, though he could not comment on the result of the surprise crash.
Goodwin says it is important to keep carmakers accountable.
"Today is a pure and proper audit test to verify the rating that's in the marketplace," he says.
"We want to give consumers assurance that we are independent and that we are keeping the brand honest and on their toes."
