Both the Sorento Plug-In Hybrid and TX have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Sorento Plug-In Hybrid 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 TX’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.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Sorento Plug-In Hybrid. But it costs extra on the TX.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Sorento Plug-In Hybrid has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning with Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Only the TX Premium/Luxury offers Parking Support Brake.
Both the Sorento Plug-In Hybrid and the TX 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, 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 around view monitors.
A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Kia Sorento Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the TX:
|
Sorento Plug-In Hybrid |
TX |
Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Restraints |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
Head Neck Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Head injury index |
83 |
112 |
Peak Head Forces |
0 G’s |
0 G’s |
Steering Column Movement Rearward |
1 cm |
5 cm |
Chest Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Hip & Thigh Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Femur Force R/L |
1/.8 kN |
3.5/1.3 kN |
Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L |
0%/0% |
1%/0% |
Lower Leg Evaluation |
GOOD |
GOOD |
Tibia index R/L |
.56/.53 |
.69/.57 |
The Kia Sorento Plug-In Hybrid 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 TX is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.