In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Stinger are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The ES Series doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Stinger has standard Active Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The ES Series doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Stinger has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the ES Series’ blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Stinger has a standard cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Cross-path warning costs extra on the ES Series.
Both the Stinger and the ES Series have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Kia Stinger is safer than the Lexus ES Series:
|
Stinger |
ES Series |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
18.3% |
24% |
Neck Stress |
137 lbs. |
239 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
97/355 lbs. |
524/628 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
HIC |
220 |
319 |
Neck Compression |
32 lbs. |
62 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
53/25 lbs. |
473/518 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Kia Stinger is safer than the Lexus ES Series:
|
Stinger |
ES Series |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Hip Force |
252 lbs. |
264 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
263 |
300 |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
310 |
326 |
Spine Acceleration |
36 G’s |
36 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Stinger, with its five-star roll-over rating, is 1.8% less likely to roll over than the ES Series, which received a four-star rating.