2016 Kia Carnival Earns Its Extra ANCAP Star – Now Rated 5-Stars For Safety

After a 12-month wait, Kia Australia can now finally announce that its Carnival people-mover has achieved the maximum 5-star rating for safety from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

Due to its popularity in overseas markets, the Australian launch was pushed from late 2014 to early 2015, and into a stricter testing regime from ANCAP for the coveted 5-Star result.

Kia was of the belief that its Carnival with its ‘stand-up’ outer second-row seating did not require seatbelt reminders, as it deemed the seats ‘removable’. ANCAP disagreed, and thus the Carnival was ineligible for the 5-Sstar rating.

When the carmaker was made aware of this, it braced for the inevitable 4-Star result.

But when the expected result came, ANCAP also criticised the Carnival for its score of 10.48 out of 16 points for the offset frontal collision test.

ANCAP