Kia Carnival Crash Test Ratings
The Kia Carnival earned a Top Safety Pick award from IIHS—but do its crash test ratings beat the rest of the minivan class?
Written by R.E. Fulton
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
The new Kia Carnival has a nearly perfect scorecard from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)—but it just barely missed out on the best-in-class Top Safety Pick+ designation.
Starting at $33,635, the 2022 Kia Carnival MPV is a seven- to eight-passenger minivan with the rugged good looks of the best crossover SUV and the rock-solid safety ratings that families need.
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Is the Kia Carnival a safe car?
The Kia Carnival is extremely safe—as a minivan should be.
Introduced in 2022 to replace the aging
Kia Sedona
, the Kia Carnival is one of the best minivans on the market. But don’t let the Carnival’s makers hear you calling it that—with the chiseled profile of an SUV, the new Carnival brands itself as an MPV, or multi-purpose vehicle, to get away from the stodgy air that clings to the minivan name. But the Carnival should bear that name with pride, because it excels in everything minivans do best. Powered by a 290-hp V6 engine paired with front-wheel drive and an automatic transmission (no hybrid powertrain for now), the Kia Carnival minivan is a confident people-mover with stellar safety ratings.
IIHS crash test ratings
The 2022 Kia Carnival earned a Top Safety Pick award in crash tests by IIHS—but the ultimate Top Safety Pick+ rating remains out of reach for one maddeningly simple reason: headlights.
Look at the Carnival’s IIHS scorecard, and you’ll see a lot of green. It’s perfect “Good” ratings all down the line, until you get to the headlights. In the top-of-the-line SX Prestige trim (which, for anyone keeping track, starts at $47,635), the LED projector high beams get the G—but for all other trims, the LED reflector headlights were deemed “Poor.”
Another potential concern for families is IIHS’s verdict on seat-belt reminders and LATCH anchor ease of use, both of which earned lukewarm “Acceptable” ratings. The anchors function well, but they’re hard to find—so the Carnival might not be the best pick for families with multiple small children.
Other crash test ratings
The Carnival has yet to receive any
NHTSA safety ratings
, but ratings are available from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP)—and they’re very good. Based in Australia, ANCAP gives the Carnival 90% for adult occupant protection and 88% for child occupant protection. The minivan’s bevy of driver aids earns a score of 82%, while vulnerable road user protection comes in at 68%. Not bad for a people mover with a curb weight of 4,518 pounds!
2022 Kia Carnival safety features
What makes Kia’s new model so safe? The Carnival’s packed with safety features that make it among the safest vehicles on the road.
Let’s start with the airbags—six of them, including dual front advanced airbags and full-length side curtain airbags. There’s even a knee airbag to prevent the driver from sliding under the steering wheel in the event of a crash!
The Carnival’s lineup of driver assistance technology includes standard aids like forward collision mitigation with cyclist detection, lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, and autonomous emergency braking (AEB)—all of it standard on every trim. But it also gets some unique tech perfectly suited to a minivan, like safe exit assist and rear-seat occupant alerts.
The safety features also improve as you move up the trim levels. Here’s what each variant includes:
Carnival EX
- Improved collision avoidance
- Adaptive cruise control
- Rear camera monitoring (shows video of second row and third row)
Carnival SX
- Parking collision avoidance assist
Carnival SX Prestige
- Upgraded blind-spot monitor
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Is the Kia Carnival safer than other minivans?
The Kia Carnival has excellent crash test ratings and top-notch safety technology, but is it safer than other minivans on the market? The table below compares Kia’s safety ratings (and starting price) with four other minivans.
Ultimately, the Kia Carnival’s crash test ratings are slightly behind the class. Only the Chrysler Voyager, which is nearly identical in price, performs worse than the Carnival.
How crash test ratings can affect car insurance
Crash test ratings
don’t just determine the safety a vehicle can offer your family—they can also have a big impact on your insurance rate! You’re not the only one looking at your vehicle’s crash test scores—your insurance company is checking those numbers too, and they’ll use what they learn to set your annual premium. A vehicle with high safety ratings, like the Kia Carnival, will cost less to insure—all other factors considered—than a vehicle with poor ratings. (That’s why
Dodge Journey insurance costs
are so high.) But
Kia Carnival insurance costs
aren’t just determined by its safety scores. The vehicle’s overall value makes a difference, too, which is why you’ll pay more to insure a tricked-out SX Prestige with heated front seats and dual sunroofs—even though it has the best safety ratings of any Carnival! How to save on Kia Carnival insurance costs
If you want to keep your insurance costs for the Kia Carnival low—and who doesn’t?—it’s easy to do with
Jerry
. As a licensed broker app with over 55 partners from among the country's top insurance companies, Jerry can find you a new low rate on Carnival insurance in under a minute.
“Jerrymakes choosing new insurance as easy as grocery shopping. Even though I had a car accident within the past 2 years, Jerry found me a great deal with Nationwide–I went from paying $340 to $90 a month!”—Pan N.
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