Both the Sorento and Edge have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Sorento S/EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line 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 Edge’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.
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 Sorento are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The Edge doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Sorento Prestige has standard Parking Collision Avoidance-Rear that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Edge doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Sorento’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The Edge doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
The Sorento Prestige has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Edge only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
Both the Sorento and Edge have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Sorento has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Edge’s Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Sorento and the Edge 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, plastic fuel tanks, 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 and available all wheel drive.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Kia Sorento is safer than the Ford Edge:
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|
Sorento |
Edge |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Max Damage Depth |
15 inches |
16 inches |
| Spine Acceleration |
32 G’s |
38 G’s |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard front crash prevention system, and its headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Sorento its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2019, a rating granted to only 135 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Edge is only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2019.