For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda CR-V have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Kia Soul doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Honda CR-V has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Soul doesn’t offer knee airbags.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the CR-V deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The CR-V’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Soul’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The CR-V EX-L/Sport-L/Sport Touring has a standard Low-Speed Braking Control that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Soul doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.
The CR-V offers all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Soul doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
Compared to metal, the CR-V’s plastic fuel tank can withstand harder, more intrusive impacts without leaking; this decreases the possibility of fire. The Kia Soul has a metal gas tank.
The CR-V Sport Touring has standard HondaLink Assist, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Soul doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the CR-V and the Soul 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 blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.
The Honda CR-V weighs 474 to 1038 pounds more than the Kia Soul. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts. Crosswinds also affect lighter cars more.
The Honda CR-V achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Soul has not yet been fully evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.