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In light of the comments we've posted about the Spectra5 recently in this forum...WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kia Spectra is the first vehicle since 2001 to get the insurance industry's worst safety rating in a frontal crash test, according to results released Sunday. The Spectra, a small, four-door sedan that starts at $13,240, got the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's lowest rating of poor after a crash test dummy's head, chest and legs were injured in the 40 mph crash test. The last car to get that rating was the Chevrolet Cavalier in 2001. Link to full article -->http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/200 ... -kia_x.htm

Now THAT'S a surprise!!!

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Now THAT'S a surprise!!! Yeah, really... I'm definitely a Korean car fan and think very highly of the products they are producing these days, but 5-star crash test ratings don't seem to be as prevalent with them as they are with the domestics, other imports, etc... They may still have a way to go in that regard...

This was on NBC's Dateline show tonight so I saw it. It was interesting how the Hyundai Elantra was crash tested (40 MPH offset barrier test) and the fuel line broke and was leaking gas. BIG problem. The IIHS notified Hyundai of this right after the test and they sent engineers right away to examine the car and talk to the test engineers. They came up with some part redesigns and issued an immediate recall to fix the cars that are out there. Then the Elantra was retested with the fixes. This time the fuel line didn't leak, but the airbag didn't deploy. In come all the engineers again and they say that this was an isolated incident. But to be on the safe side, they altered the programming of the airbag software and are to issue another recall soon on over 100,000 vehicles to fix this. Retest again. This time everything works as designed.Now, since Hyundai is the parent company of Kia, why is it taking such an effort to get some Kia people over to check things out. The Hyundai people got on things right away, but the Kia folks are dragging their feet. What gives?

Isn't the Spectra and the Elantra essentially the same car?

You'd think the Kia Rio would be rated pretty low as well, seeing how small the darn thing is.

Quote, originally posted by Reynoma »Isn't the Spectra and the Elantra essentially the same car?I don't know, it very well may be. I don't really keep up very much on Korean matchbox cars because they generally have about zero appeal to me.

Most of the Kias are now sharing platforms with Hyundai: Amanti=XG350, Optima=Sonata, Spectra=Elantra, and the next Rio will be based off the Accent platform.

You get what you pay for.

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Most of the Kias are now sharing platforms with Hyundai: Amanti=XG350, Optima=Sonata, Spectra=Elantra, and the next Rio will be based off the Accent platform. Is there any Kia as of yet, concept or production, that is like the Tiburon?Inder

Nothing that I've heard of yet man...

Props to the Mazda3 for receiving the highest rating! Woohoo!Very ironic that Kia is an acronym for "Killed in Automobile"... also kinda funny.

Quote, originally posted by Geo »Very ironic that Kia is an acronym for "Killed in Automobile"*cringe* Oh, thanks Geo - when I'm not driving my Vibe to work, I'm riding in a Rio... hehehe