Compare the2023 Ford EscapeVS 2023 Kia Sportage

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Ford Escape have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Kia Sportage doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The Ford Escape has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Sportage doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The Escape has standard Post-Collision Braking, which automatically apply the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Sportage doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

The Escape has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro offers a blind spot warning system.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Escape has standard Cross Traffic Alert to warn the driver of approaching traffic and automatically engage the brakes to help avoid a collision. Only the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro offers Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning.

Both the Escape and the Sportage have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

The Escape’s 5 year corrosion warranty has no mileage limitations, but the corrosion warranty on the Sportage runs out after 100,000 miles.

There are almost 4 times as many Ford dealers as there are Kia dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Escape’s warranty.

The Escape has a standard “limp home system” to keep drivers from being stranded if most or all of the engine’s coolant is lost. The engine will run on only half of its cylinders at a time, reduce its power and light a warning lamp on the dashboard so the driver can get to a service station for repairs. The Sportage doesn’t offer a lost coolant limp home mode, so a coolant leak could strand you or seriously damage the truck’s engine.

The Escape’s standard 1.5 turbo 3-cylinder produces 12 lbs.-ft. more torque (190 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder. The Escape’s optional 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder produces 63 more horsepower (250 vs. 187) and 102 lbs.-ft. more torque (280 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder.

As tested in Consumer Reports the Ford Escape turbo 3 cyl. is faster than the Kia Sportage:

On the EPA test cycle the Escape gets better mileage than the Sportage:

An engine control system that can shut down some of the engine’s cylinders helps improve the Escape 1.5 Turbo’s fuel efficiency. The Sportage doesn’t offer a system that can shut down part of the engine.

The Escape AWD’s standard fuel tank has 1.4 gallons more fuel capacity than the Sportage (15.7 vs. 14.3 gallons).

The Escape has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Sportage doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Ford Escape higher (7 out of 10) than the Kia Sportage (5). This means the Escape produces up to 8 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Sportage every 15,000 miles.

For better stopping power the Escape’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Sportage:

The Escape stops much shorter than the Sportage:

The Escape AWD handles at .87 G’s, while the Sportage X-Pro Prestige pulls only .84 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

For better maneuverability, the Escape’s turning circle is 1.4 feet tighter than the Sportage’s (37.2 feet vs. 38.6 feet).

The Escape is 3.4 inches shorter than the Sportage, making the Escape easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Escape has .4 inches more front headroom, 1 inch more front legroom, .4 inches more front hip room and .4 inches more rear shoulder room than the Sportage.

An optional locking center console keeps your small valuables safer in the Escape. The Sportage doesn’t offer locking storage for small valuables.

Maximum trailer towing in the Kia Sportage is limited to 2500 pounds. The Escape offers up to a 3500 lbs. towing capacity.

The Escape Elite/Platinum offers an optional heads-up display that projects speed and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Sportage doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Escape Select/Elite/Platinum’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to open or close them fully.

In case you lock your keys in your vehicle, or don’t have them with you, you can let yourself in using the Escape’s available exterior PIN entry system (not available on Escape Base). The Sportage doesn’t offer an exterior PIN entry system, and its 911 Connect can’t unlock the doors if the vehicle doesn’t have cell phone reception or the driver can’t contact the service.

The Escape’s standard speed-sensitive wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers. The Sportage’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted. The Escape Elite/Platinum’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield.

Consumer Reports rated the Escape’s headlight performance “Good,” a higher rating than the Sportage’s headlights, which were rated “Fair.”

The Escape Elite/Platinum’s optional Active Park Assist 2.0 can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. The Sportage doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Ford Escape outsold the Kia Sportage by 10% during 2022.