Both the Telluride and MDX have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Telluride has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The MDX’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Telluride’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The MDX doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
Both the Telluride and MDX have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Telluride has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic.
Both the Telluride and the MDX have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, 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 Telluride is safer than the Acura MDX:
|
Telluride |
MDX |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
27% |
29% |
Neck Stress |
275 lbs. |
304 lbs. |
Neck Compression |
32 lbs. |
59 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.7 inches |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
351/369 lbs. |
392/458 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 Telluride is safer than the Acura MDX:
|
Telluride |
MDX |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
41 |
107 |
Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.6 inches |
Abdominal Force |
93 lbs. |
105 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
137 |
142 |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
450 |
549 |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.