How safe is the new Kia Soul?
For the new model year, the ever-popular Kia Soul crossover was redesigned to include some new styling tweaks and a more comfortable interior.
Perhaps more importantly, though, it also received some safety improvements, helping it land the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded the Soul the Top Safety Pick Plus award, the best safety rating you can get from the IIHS.
The complete redesign for the 2020 model year confirmed that Kia are interested in more than just making a great looking vehicle. The Soul had to undergo a lot of rigorous testing to earn that Top Safety Pick+ score, which includes receiving a “Good” rating in the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front moderate overlap front, side, roof strength, and head restraints categories.
The Kia Soul was able to achieve good safety ratings in all of those categories, but it also received a “Superior” score for front crash prevention, as well as a good headlight rating. It is those additional rating that helped the Soul land the coveted IIHS safety rating.
Helping the cause was the fact that the redesigned Soul came with two optional front crash prevention systems, including pedestrian detection technology, which is quickly becoming common in most new vehicles.
Both front crash prevention systems in the new Kia Soul received “Superior” ratings for the crash tests performed at 12 and 25 mph. In those crash tests, the systems both avoided collision with a stationary object used to represent another vehicle.
Improved safety rating
Is safety in the Kia Soul model improved over the previous generation model? YES.
The passenger side small overlap front test is the toughest of the bunch. The previous generations Soul “only” managed an acceptable rating, preventing it from getting + status. The improvement from acceptable to good safety rating helped push the Kia Soul model over the top, especially with all other tests receiving good scores.
IIHS‘ crash tests of new cars
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tests are performed every year on new models, with the tests put in place a good deal more rigorous than the federally mandated NHTSA testing that vehicles need to undergo.
One of the important tests that the IIHS performs is the partial overlap tests, which simulates a collision where only half, or less than half, of the front end is impacted in a collision with another vehicle.
Its is for those reasons, as well as a few others, that the IIHS rating is considered to be the gold standard in terms of automotive safety. These tests are able to create a definite divide between automakers who do just enough to meet safety ratings and those who go above and beyond. The fact that the Soul achieved the highest possible rating tells you how seriously Kia takes the safety of their vehicles.
Roof strength crash test of Kia Soul
So, how safe is Kia Soul?
The Kia Soul has always been among the best in the subcompact crossover segment, but it now has to be considered the cream of the crop! Not only does the Soul look as good as it always has, it’s also now one of the safest vehicles you can take out on the road.
