2015 Kia Forte

small car / 4-door sedan

2015 Kia Forte 4-door sedan

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Small overlap front: driver-side
Moderate overlap front: original test
Side: original test
Roof strength
Head restraints & seats

Crash avoidance & mitigation

Front crash prevention
Not available

Seat belts & child restraints

LATCH ease of use

Other available safety features

  • Optional daytime running lights

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.

Small overlap front: driver-side

Rating applies to 2015-16 models

Tested vehicle: 2015 Kia Forte LX 4-door

The Kia Forte was redesigned for the 2014 model year. Beginning with the 2015 models, Kia increased the strength of the occupant compartment structure (A-pillar, door sill, seat support crossmember, among other parts) to improve occupant protection in small overlap frontal crashes.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Hip/thigh
Lower leg/foot
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
The dummy’s head contacted the frontal airbag but slid off the left side. Additionally, the seat belt allowed excessive forward excursion of the dummy’s head and torso, contributing to the head hitting the instrument panel. The side curtain airbag deployed but does not have sufficient forward coverage to protect the head from contact with forward side structure and outside objects. The side torso airbag deployed.

Action shot taken during the small overlap frontal crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the door frame, steering wheel, and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was not maintained well.

During the crash, the dummy's head and torso contacted the airbag before moving to the left. The seat belt allowed the dummy to move too far forward, and the head hit the instrument panel.

Despite considerable intrusion of the door hinge pillar, door sill, and instrument panel, risk of injuries to the dummy's legs and feet was low.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEN1436
Lower occupant compartment
Lower hinge pillar max (cm) 20
Footrest (cm) 10
Left toepan (cm) 5
Brake pedal (cm) 5
Parking brake (cm)
Rocker panel lateral average (cm) 6
Upper occupant compartment
Steering column 6
Upper hinge pillar max (cm) 16
Upper dash (cm) 17
Lower instrument panel (cm) 15

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEN1436
Head
HIC-15 149
Peak gs at hard contact not meas.
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.5
Extension bending moment (Nm) 12
Maximum Nij 0.24
Chest maximum compression (mm) 21
Femur (kN)
Left 1.4
Right 0.0
Knee displacement (mm)
Left 1
Right 0
Knee-thigh-hip injury risk (%)
Left 0
Right 0
Maximum tibia index
Left 0.51
Right 0.61
Tibia axial force (kN)
Left 1.6
Right 1.2
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 108
Right 52

How the driver-side small overlap front test is conducted

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2014-18 models

Tested vehicle: 2014 Kia Forte EX 4-door

The Kia Forte was redesigned for the 2014 model year. Moderate overlap frontal ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Hyundai/Kia as part of frontal crash test verification.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID VTF1305
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 4
Left (cm) 8
Center (cm) 6
Right (cm) 3
Brake pedal (cm) 4
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 0
Right (cm) 0
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) -4
Rearward (cm) -4
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 0

Driver injury measures

Test ID VTF1305
Head
HIC-15 298
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 2.1
Extension bending moment (Nm) 11
Maximum Nij 0.40
Chest maximum compression (mm) 28
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 0.0
Femur force - right (kN) 0.8
Knee displacement - left (mm) 2
Knee displacement - right (mm) 1
Maximum tibia index - left 0.32
Maximum tibia index - right 0.33
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 2.3
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.0
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 59
Right 81

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2015-18 models

Tested vehicle: 2015 Kia Forte LX 4-door with standard front and rear head curtain airbags and standard front seat-mounted torso airbags

The Kia Forte was redesigned for the 2014 model year. Beginning with 2015 models, the seat-mounted side torso airbags and front door trim were modified to improve occupant protection in side impact crashes. Side ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Hyundai/Kia as part of side crash test verification.

Because the side structure and the rear occupant compartment of the car were not changed, the injury ratings for the passenger and the structure rating are based on tests of both the 2014 and 2015 models.

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
Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID VTS1232 VTS1410
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm) -17.0 -17.0
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Driver injury measures

Test ID VTS1410
Head HIC-15 376
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.0
Compression (kN) 0.3
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 38
Lateral force (kN) 1.8
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 39
Average deflection (mm) 35
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 5.82
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.84
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 2.1
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.7
Combined force (kN) 3.8
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 1.0
L-M moment (Nm) 41
A-P moment (Nm) 214

Passenger injury measures

Test ID VTS1232 VTS1410
Head HIC-15 279 307
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.2 0.2
Compression (kN) 0.4 1.0
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 33 43
Lateral force (kN) 1.6 1.5
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 34 38
Average deflection (mm) 27 33
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 3.51 2.88
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.47 0.46
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 0.2 0.3
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.4 0.6
Combined force (kN) 1.4 0.6
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 1.4 1.3
L-M moment (Nm) 79 26
A-P moment (Nm) -219 -206

How the side crash test is conducted

Roof strength

Rating applies to 2014-18 models

Tested vehicle: 2014 Kia Forte LX 4-door

Overall evaluation
Curb weight 2,812 lbs
Peak force 14,015 lbs
Strength-to-weight ratio 4.98

How the roof strength test is conducted

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Manual cloth seats built after May 2013

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Manual cloth seats mfg after May 2013
Geometry
Backset (mm) 0
Distance below top of head (mm) -13
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Pass
Max T1 acceleration (g) 10.5
Head contact time (ms) 52
Force rating 1
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 0
Max neck tension (N) 262

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

Child seat anchors

Rating applies to 2015-18 models

Overall evaluation
Vehicle trim LX
Seat type cloth

This vehicle has 2 rear seating positions with complete child seat attachment (LATCH) hardware.

It has 1 additional seating position with a tether anchor only.

Overall evaluation
Vehicle trim LX
Seat type cloth
1 2 3
G Good
A Acceptable
M Marginal
P Poor
Seating positions that rely on borrowed lower anchors or have only a tether anchor available are not rated.
thether anchor symbol
Tether anchor
lower anchor symbol
Lower anchors
shared lower achors symbol
Lower anchor(s) can be borrowed from adjacent positions(s)
No hardware available

Details by seating position

1
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
too deep in seat
not too much force needed to attach
easy to maneuver around anchors
2
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
none available
3
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
too deep in seat
not too much force needed to attach
easy to maneuver around anchors
Technical measurements for this test

Seat position 21

3

Lower anchor A
Open access rated No
Depth (cm) 0-2
Force (lbs) 23
Clearance angle (degrees) 71
Lower anchor B
Open access rated No
Depth (cm) 2-4
Force (lbs) 29
Clearance angle (degrees) 74
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor
No

Seat position 22

2

Lower anchor A
No lower latch for this seat position
Lower anchor B
No lower latch for this seat position
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor
No

Seat position 23

1

Lower anchor A
Open access rated No
Depth (cm) 2-4
Force (lbs) 26
Clearance angle (degrees) 71
Lower anchor B
Open access rated No
Depth (cm) 2-4
Force (lbs) 28
Clearance angle (degrees) 69
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor
No

How child seat anchors are evaluated

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