Despite vehicles on the same platform failing to score top marks in ANCAP crash tests, Kia Australia is confident its new K4 – the replacement for the popular Cerato – should achieve a five-star result across most of the range.
Speaking with media at the Australian media launch for the K4, Kia Australia’s general manager for product planning, Roland Rivero, said the brand is expecting its new small car to achieve a similar result to its Cerato forebear in that it will have a split safety rating depending on specification.
“We’ve got every intention for success with the K4, and the goal working with the safety teams in R&D is to get a dual rating for this product – obviously five [stars] with the Safety Pack,” Mr Rivero said. “We can’t make that announcement… but the goal or target is four [on S] and five [from Safety Pack up].”
Kia’s local representatives confirmed the K4 will undergo local crash testing with ANCAP during the second quarter of 2025, with an announcement of its results to come in due course.
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Kia Cerato
The 2025 Kia K4 is based on the same ‘K3’ platform as the Hyundai i30 Sedan (Avante/Elantra) and Kona, as well as the Kia Niro. While the Niro wears a five-star ANCAP safety rating, the i30 Sedan and Kona achieved three and four starts respectively.
A five-star ANCAP rating is vital for vehicles targeted at fleets, given most require a five-star rating for consideration.
Kia Australia’s chief operating officer, Dennis Piccoli, told media around 40 per cent of K4 sales are expected to come from fleet, similar to its Cerato predecessor.
Standard safety equipment on the K4 includes seven airbags (including a front-centre airbag, which the i30 Sedan lacks), while the bulk of the available safety systems are standard across the range – such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB); adaptive cruise control; active blind-spot and rear cross-traffic assists; lane-keep and lane centring assists; safe exit warning; as well as a reversing camera with front and rear parking sensors.
Kia K4
Opting for the Safety Pack on the base S adds a more sophisticated AEB system with enhanced functionality with junction crossing and oncoming lane change detection – on top of the base car’s vehicle, pedestrian, cyclist and junction turning functions.
From the Sport grade upwards, you get Kia’s Highway Driving Assist 2 tech. This is effectively a semi-autonomous highway assistant that combines adaptive cruise control and lane centring functions, as well as navigation data, to take the load off of extended highway stints.
There’s even Lane Change Assist 2, debuted here on the EV9 flagship, which will safely help you change lanes when you flick one of the indicators, provided your hands are on the steering wheel.
While the standard safety spec for Australian-delivered Kia K4 models is pretty comprehensive, the local range still misses out on a couple of features offered in other markets for the time being.
A 360-degree camera system with 3D view is offered on high-spec models in North America, but alas despite being sourced from the same Monterrey, Mexico factory as Australian models, it’s not available on any K4 from launch Down Under.
Kia’s Blind Spot View Monitor camera system also is absent from the local spec list. This uses mirror-mounted side-facing cameras to project a live camera feed of the vehicle’s blind spot into the instrument cluster, and is available on the North American-market model.
As we’ve seen in other Kia model lines however, namely the Carnival, these could be supply-restricted features that will be added to the local range with a future update.
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