For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Genesis Electrified GV70 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 Niro EV doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
The Electrified GV70’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Niro EV doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.
Both the Electrified GV70 and Niro EV have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Electrified GV70 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 Niro EV’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.
The Electrified GV70 has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Niro EV doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.
Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the Electrified GV70 deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The Electrified GV70’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Niro EV’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.
The Electrified GV70 has standard Anti-whiplash Front Head Restraints, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Anti-whiplash Front Head Restraints system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Niro EV doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
The Electrified GV70 has all-wheel drive to maximize traction under poor conditions, especially in ice and snow. The Niro EV doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
The Electrified GV70 has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Niro EV 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 Electrified GV70 and the Niro EV have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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 and driver alert monitors.
The Genesis Electrified GV70 weighs 1261 pounds more than the Kia Niro EV. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The Genesis Electrified GV70 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 Niro EV has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.