For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Kia Niro have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Toyota Venza doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Niro’s standard Downhill Brake Control allows you to creep down safely. The Venza doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Niro 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 Venza XLE/Nightshade/Limited offers Parking Support Brake.
Both the Niro and the Venza 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, driver alert monitors and available front and rear parking sensors.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Kia Niro is safer than the Toyota Venza:
|
Niro |
Venza |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
4 Stars |
4 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
29% |
29.3% |
Neck Stress |
201 lbs. |
306 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
106/154 lbs. |
400/388 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
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 Niro is safer than the Toyota Venza:
|
Niro |
Venza |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Max Damage Depth |
13 inches |
14 inches |
Hip Force |
692 lbs. |
835 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Niro is 3.7% less likely to roll over than the Venza.