2015 Kia Optima

midsize car / 4-door sedan

2015 Kia Optima 4-door sedan
2012 Kia Optima shown

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: vehicle-to-vehicle
Not available

Seat belts & child restraints

LATCH ease of use

Other available safety features

  • Optional blind spot detection

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 2011-15 models

Tested vehicle: 2012 Kia Optima LX 4-door

The Kia Optima was redesigned for the 2011 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Hip/thigh
Lower leg/foot
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

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.

The frontal and side curtain airbags worked reasonably well together to protect the head from injury in the crash test. Still, the curtain airbag should extend farther forward toward the A-pillar to protect the head from contact with forward side structure and outside objects if crash circumstances were to differ slightly.

Despite considerable intrusion into the driver footwell area, 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 CEN1225
Lower occupant compartment
Lower hinge pillar max (cm) 22
Footrest (cm) 12
Left toepan (cm) 4
Brake pedal (cm) 3
Parking brake (cm) 21
Rocker panel lateral average (cm) 6
Upper occupant compartment
Steering column 4
Upper hinge pillar max (cm) 10
Upper dash (cm) 13
Lower instrument panel (cm) 18

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEN1225
Head
HIC-15 53
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.9
Extension bending moment (Nm) 8
Maximum Nij 0.19
Chest maximum compression (mm) 23
Femur (kN)
Left 0.9
Right 0.1
Knee displacement (mm)
Left 4
Right 1
Knee-thigh-hip injury risk (%)
Left 0
Right 0
Maximum tibia index
Left 0.74
Right 0.55
Tibia axial force (kN)
Left 1.1
Right 0.3
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 80
Right 42

How the driver-side small overlap front test is conducted

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2011-15 models

Tested vehicle: 2011 Kia Optima LX 4-door

The Kia Optima was redesigned for the 2011 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 VTF1012
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 9
Left (cm) 12
Center (cm) 12
Right (cm) 6
Brake pedal (cm) 12
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 3
Right (cm) 2
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 0
Rearward (cm) -4
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 3

Driver injury measures

Test ID VTF1012
Head
HIC-15 144
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.2
Extension bending moment (Nm) 16
Maximum Nij 0.26
Chest maximum compression (mm) 36
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 1.9
Femur force - right (kN) 2.3
Knee displacement - left (mm) 1
Knee displacement - right (mm) 4
Maximum tibia index - left 0.32
Maximum tibia index - right 0.31
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 2.9
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 1.4
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 42
Right 76

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2011-15 models

Tested vehicle: 2011 Kia Optima EX 4-door with standard front and rear head curtain airbags and standard front seat-mounted torso airbags

The Kia Optima was redesigned for the 2011 model year.

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 airbags 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 CES1017
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm) -11.5
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Driver injury measures

Test ID CES1017
Head HIC-15 287
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.3
Compression (kN) 0.6
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 33
Lateral force (kN) 2.0
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 36
Average deflection (mm) 32
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 6.07
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.51
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 2.1
Acetabulum force (kN) 0.8
Combined force (kN) 2.6
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.7
L-M moment (Nm) 199
A-P moment (Nm) 53

Passenger injury measures

Test ID CES1017
Head HIC-15 181
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.2
Compression (kN) 0.5
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 20
Lateral force (kN) 1.1
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 28
Average deflection (mm) 23
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 3.13
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.43
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 0.2
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.0
Combined force (kN) 1.1
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.5
L-M moment (Nm) 148
A-P moment (Nm) -62

How the side crash test is conducted

Roof strength

Rating applies to 2011-15 models

Tested vehicle: 2011 Kia Optima LX 4-door

Overall evaluation
Curb weight3,264 lbs
Peak force16,720 lbs
Strength-to-weight ratio5.12

How the roof strength test is conducted

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Manual Cloth seat (AHR)

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Manual Cloth seat (AHR)
Geometry
Backset (mm) 28
Distance below top of head (mm) 20
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Pass
Max T1 acceleration (g) 10.7
Head contact time (ms) 54
Force rating 1
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 31
Max neck tension (N) 323

Seat type: Power Leatherette seat (4-way HR)

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Power Leatherette seat (4-way HR)
Geometry
Backset (mm) 28
Distance below top of head (mm) -2
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Pass
Max T1 acceleration (g) 11.7
Head contact time (ms) 55
Force rating 1
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 0
Max neck tension (N) 270

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

Child seat anchors

Rating applies to 2015 models

Overall evaluation
Vehicle trimLX
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 trimLX
Seat type cloth
1 2 3
GGood
AAcceptable
MMarginal
PPoor
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) 2-4
Force (lbs) 34
Clearance angle (degrees) 73
Lower anchor B
Open access rated No
Depth (cm) 2-4
Force (lbs) 18
Clearance angle (degrees) 76
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor
No
Tether anchors can be accessed
while seatback is properly positioned
for use of LATCH
Not measured

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
Tether anchors can be accessed
while seatback is properly positioned
for use of LATCH
Not measured

Seat position 23

1

Lower anchor A
Open access rated No
Depth (cm) 0-2
Force (lbs) 16
Clearance angle (degrees) 77
Lower anchor B
Open access rated No
Depth (cm) 2-4
Force (lbs) 15
Clearance angle (degrees) 66
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor
No
Tether anchors can be accessed
while seatback is properly positioned
for use of LATCH
Not measured

How child seat anchors are evaluated