A recent improvement has been made to the 2024 Kia Carnival in response to a safety concern discovered during the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s side crash test. This issue involved the second-row seat on the left side of the vehicle becoming detached, which posed a potential danger to passengers. Although the problem has been addressed, the vehicle’s overall safety rating remains poor.

Before the necessary modifications were implemented, the left second-row captain’s chair would detach from the floor during the initial crash test. This resulted in the seat and the dummy occupant tipping sideways and backward, ultimately ending up in the third-row seating area. Such a detachment could have serious consequences in a real-life crash scenario, posing a risk to the occupant in that seat as well as other passengers.

Upon being notified of the issue by the IIHS, Kia took action by reinforcing the rails that secure the rear seats to the vehicle’s floor. As a result, all Carnival models manufactured after August 2023 now incorporate these stronger rails. Furthermore, Kia initiated a product improvement campaign to retrofit earlier-built vehicles with the same modification, provided free of charge.

Kia has proactively reached out to affected owners, advising them to contact their local dealerships to schedule the installation of the enhanced rails at their convenience. Dealerships have also been instructed to perform this upgrade whenever a customer brings in an affected Carnival for any type of service.

In a subsequent test involving a vehicle with the rail modification, the rear seat remained securely in place during the crash. However, despite this improvement, the vehicle still received a poor safety rating due to concerns related to the performance of its safety cage and the risk of pelvic injuries to the driver and chest injuries to rear passengers.

The IIHS updated its side crash test procedures in 2021 to reflect the harsh realities of real-world side impacts, which continue to account for a significant portion of passenger vehicle occupant fatalities. The revised test employs a heavier barrier traveling at a higher speed to simulate the striking vehicle. This new barrier weighs approximately 4,200 pounds, similar to the weight of today’s midsize SUVs, and impacts the test vehicle at a speed of 37 mph, as opposed to the original evaluation’s 3,300-pound barrier traveling at 31 mph. These changes aim to better replicate the severity of actual side collisions on the road.

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