2023 Kia Sportage earns Top Safety Pick

The top two trims of the redesigned Kia Sportage, a small SUV, earn a 2022 Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Other versions miss out on the award because their headlights don’t measure up.

To earn either of the Institute’s two awards this year, a vehicle must earn good ratings in six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests. It must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns advanced or superior ratings in both the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations.

For the lower-tier Top Safety Pick, at least one good or acceptable headlight system must be available. For the higher-tier Top Safety Pick+, good or acceptable headlights must be standard across all trims.

The 2023 Sportage is built on the same platform as the 2022 Hyundai Tucson. Many of its ratings are based on tests of the Tucson.

The Sportage comes with two different front crash prevention systems — one standard and one optional. Both earn superior ratings in the vehicle-to-vehicle and the vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. The superior pedestrian rating is a step up from the 2022 Sportage’s advanced-rated system, which was only available as optional equipment.

The SX Prestige and X-Pro Prestige trims come with LED projector headlights that earn an acceptable rating. All other trim lines come with LED reflectors that earn a poor rating due to inadequate visibility.