The Kia Soul has already catapulted the Kia brand into cool territory and now it’s in safe territory also. The European NCAP safety test resulted in the Kia Soul getting the maximum five stars in frontal offset, side impact and pole crash tests. The NCAP rating system gives it a 87% safety rating for adult occupants and 86% safety for child occupents. It does significantly worse for pedestrians: just 39%.  So, if you want a close encounter with a Kia Soul … just make sure you’re inside.

Adult occupant
The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal impact. Structures in the dashboard presented a risk of injury to the knees and femurs of the driver and passenger. Based on dummy readings alone, the Soul scored maximum points for its protection of the driver in the side barrier test. However, the driver’s door was not fully latched after the test and the car was penalised a point. In the side pole test, protection of the chest was marginal. However, good protection was provided against whiplash injuries.

Child occupant
Based on dummy readings, maximum points were scored for the protection provided to both the 3 year and the 1½ year children in the frontal and side impact tests. Forward movement of the head of the 3 year child, sat in a forward-facing seat, was not excessive in the frontal impact the heads of both dummies were contained by the restraints in the side impact. The passenger airbag can be disabled to allow a rearward-facing child restraint to be used in that seating position. However, information provided to the driver regarding the status of the airbag is not sufficiently clear.

Pedestrian
The front edge of the bonnet offered poor protection to pedestrians’ legs. In most areas likely to be hit by a pedestrian’s head, the bonnet also provided poor protection. Only the bumper offered predominantly good protection against injury.

Safety assist
Electronic stability control is standard equipment on all Kia Souls, as is a seatbelt reminder system for both front and rear seats.