2004 Kia Sorento

midsize SUV / 4-door SUV

2004 Kia Sorento 4-door SUV
2003 Kia Sorento shown

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test
Side: original test
Head restraints & seats

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2003-06 models

Tested vehicle: 2003 Kia Sorento LX 4-door 4wd

The Kia Sorento was introduced in the 2003 model year. Kia has made seat belt and frontal airbag modifications and added a knee airbag beginning with 2007 models, so these ratings do not apply to vehicles built after the 2006 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Dummy movement was reasonably well controlled. During rebound, the dummy's head hit the B-pillar. Plus the driver's seat tipped toward the door.

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained well.

A high head acceleration occurred when the dummy's head bottomed out the airbag and hit the steering wheel.

Intrusion into the driver's space was minimal, and forces on the legs and feet were low.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEF0318
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 13
Left (cm) 10
Center (cm) 8
Right (cm) 7
Brake pedal (cm) 5
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 0
Right (cm) 1
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 0
Rearward (cm) -4
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 2

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEF0318
Head
HIC-15 552
Peak gs at hard contact 87
Neck
Tension (kN) 2.2
Extension bending moment (Nm) 55
Maximum Nij 0.42
Chest maximum compression (mm) 37
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.6
Femur force - right (kN) 3.8
Knee displacement - left (mm) 0
Knee displacement - right (mm) 3
Maximum tibia index - left 0.34
Maximum tibia index - right 0.34
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 2.1
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 3.8
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 127
Right 109

About the original moderate overlap front test

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2003-09 models

Tested vehicle: 2008 Kia Sorento LX 4-door 4wd with standard front and rear head curtain airbags

The Kia Sorento was introduced in the 2003 model year. Although engineering changes were made to improve frontal crashworthiness beginning with 2007 models, these changes were not expected to affect side-impact performance.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Driver head protection
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Rear passenger head protection

View of the vehicle and barrier just after the crash test.

View of the vehicle after the crash with doors removed, showing the side airbag and damage to the occupant compartment.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the driver dummy's head was protected from being hit by hard structures by the side curtain airbag.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the rear passenger dummy’s head was protected by the side airbag.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CES0747
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm) 0.0
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Driver injury measures

Test ID CES0747
Head HIC-15 344
Neck
Tension (kN) 2.1
Compression (kN) 0.1
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 61
Lateral force (kN) 2.2
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 45
Average deflection (mm) 33
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 7.11
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 1.33
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 6.4
Acetabulum force (kN) 2.7
Combined force (kN) 7.0
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.6
L-M moment (Nm) 98
A-P moment (Nm) 18

Passenger injury measures

Test ID CES0747
Head HIC-15 493
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.1
Compression (kN) 1.0
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 15
Lateral force (kN) 1.0
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 23
Average deflection (mm) 16
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 3.07
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.25
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 2.1
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.0
Combined force (kN) 2.9
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.7
L-M moment (Nm) 92
A-P moment (Nm) -38

About the original side crash test

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Seats with head restraint tilt lock

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Seats with head restraint tilt lock
Geometry
Backset (mm) 38
Distance below top of head (mm) 75
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g) 9.6
Head contact time (ms) 96
Force rating 3
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 237
Max neck tension (N) 745

Seat type: Seats without head restraint tilt lock

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Seats without head restraint tilt lock
Geometry
Backset (mm) 85
Distance below top of head (mm) 65
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Fail
Max T1 acceleration (g) 11.1
Head contact time (ms) 106
Force rating 3
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 186
Max neck tension (N) 987

About the head restraint & seat test
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.