Ask the Car People.SM


Kia Spectra Sedan - READ ONLY

464 messages,  Last post on Oct 17, 2006 at 5:51 AM

You are in the Kia Spectra/Spectra5 Forum.

What is this discussion about? Kia Spectra, Sedan

Messages Page 17 of 47

#157 of 464 Hopeful speculation from the early Edmunds review of the new Spectra by spectraman

Dec 21, 2004 (12:09 am)

Here's some related info from Edmund's (now outdated) review of the new Spectra. Note specifically the IIHS mention about the *old* Spectra. It looks like Edmunds also thought that the side seat and curtain air bags would benefit the offset crash results. It also shows that it doesn't look like KIA has learned much from the testing done on their previous model. (You would have thought that the Hyundai engineers would have shared their collective knowledge on this one... esp. since they too had to learn this hard lesson. The 'GOOD' results of the Elantra supports that statement.)
 
Maybe KIA can retrofit some logic into the sensing system to go ahead and fire the side protection system in the situation of an offset crash? My guess is that their sensing system won't be flexible enough to do that retroactively. It will probably have to be designed into the 2006's at the earliest.
 
Read the Edmunds review excerpt...
 
"The old Spectra fared well in government crash testing, earning four stars for driver and front-passenger protection in frontal crashes and three stars for side-impact protection. IIHS testing told a more dismal story, however, as the Kia was rated "Poor" (the lowest score possible) for the 40-mph frontal offset crash.
 
The redesigned Spectra has not yet been tested, but we expect it to fare much better, as both LX and EX models feature standard front seat-mounted side airbags and full-length side-curtain airbags."

#158 of 464 Re: backy by alpha01

Dec 21, 2004 (6:16 am)

Replying to: backy (Dec 20, 2004 4:36 pm)
Check out the IIHS offset crash tests for any Nissan/Infiniti which has side airbags standard. In all of those tested, the side restraint has inflated. Ex- Nissan Murano, Maxima, Quest, any of the Infinitis tested....
 
~alpha

#159 of 464 Re: backy [alpha01] by backy

Dec 21, 2004 (8:17 am)

Replying to: alpha01 (Dec 21, 2004 6:16 am)
That is a lesson for Kia (and others). If they designed the standard SABs and SACs on the Spectra to inflate on a frontal impact, perhaps the driver would be restrained without injury, as happened with the Maxima etc. They might even be able to do that with a software fix, meaning it could be done on existing cars. Fixing the footwell intrusion would be more difficult (as a retrofit) but that's not the biggest problem.

#160 of 464 IIHS rating by lngtonge18

Dec 23, 2004 (12:41 pm)

I personally have a problem with the Spectra being rated poor. All of the individual ratings were either marginal or acceptable. There were no poor ratings at all. I have to ask how the IIHS thinks the Spectra deserves an overall rating of poor when none of the individual ratings were poor. If anything, the Spectra should be rated marginal. Look at the Dodge Neon for example: It's structure was seriously compromised, there was little survival space left, the steering wheel broke off, and there was a poor reading for one of the legs. And yet it was rated marginal overall. It appears they arbitralily gave a poor rating just to make the headline of "first car rated poor since 2001" and make an example of an automaker that failed to make a huge improvement.
 
This car does not deserve the poor overall rating. It does deserve a marginal rating and I think Kia needs to address the problems.

#161 of 464 Re: IIHS rating [lngtonge18] by alpha01

Dec 23, 2004 (12:57 pm)

Replying to: lngtonge18 (Dec 23, 2004 12:41 pm)
Actually, I think the Kia deserves the Poor rating at this point in time. Its 2005, and most brand new designs perform well in this test. In comparison to the Neon which you cite, yes, the Kia's structure did better than the Neon's,
 
HOWEVER, comparing the actual injury measures, the Kia does much more poorly than the Neon.
 
The Neon inflicted no serious injuries to any VITAL body parts/organs, as it was rated the highest mark for both Head/Neck and Chest.
 
In comparison, the Kia rated only a 'MARGINAL' for Head/Neck, which is a serious issue, and an Acceptable for the chest, also worse than the Neon.
 
 
For leg injuries, the Kia is rated Acceptable and Marginal, while the Neon is Poor and Acceptable. I cant speak for anyone else, but Id rather have better ratings in the vital organs area. A broken leg heals- risk of serious injury to the Head/Neck and a lower rating for chest pose a bigger problem, IMO.
 
I dont think the rating of the Kia as Poor is arbitrary, I think its based on Marginal kinematics and comparatively Poor injury measures.
As far as I know, the Injury measures for the Head/Neck and Chest are appropriately weighted more heavily by the IIHS than for the legs. Thats why you'll see a few 'Best Picks' which have an Acceptable for the legs.
 
~alpha

#162 of 464 IIHS rating vs. real world. Any data online? by spectraman

Dec 23, 2004 (1:53 pm)

Replying to: alpha01 (Dec 23, 2004 12:57 pm)
Merry Christmas Everyone!
 
Does anyone know if there is any *real world* injury data published online?
 
It would be interesting to reconcile the IIHS "ratings" to real-life injury data on ANY particular car, just to see how accurate their injury projections are.
 
Please post the URL to any such info if you know it.
 
Thanks!
 
-SM

#163 of 464 Here you go... by alpha01

Dec 23, 2004 (4:55 pm)

http://www.iihs.org/news_releases/2004/pr020504.htm
 
~alpha

#164 of 464 alpha01 by lngtonge18

Dec 23, 2004 (8:03 pm)

Actually, look at earlier ratings. The Mirage was rated poor due to dummy kinematics and right leg injury measures that were rated poor. Otherwise, it did ok injury measure wise. The former Dodge Neon was rated poor due to poor right leg and dummy kinematics. The head/chest was rated good. Every car that has been rated poor was due to being rated poor in more then one independent area. I didn't see one other car that was rated poor with marginal/acceptable ratings. If the head injury was rated poor, like the 01-03 Elantra was, then of course it deserves a poor rating. But it wasn't and none of the other injuries were rated poor, so I think the overall poor rating was a bit much. They don't base the ratings by comparing it to the performance of other cars. They base it on preset boundaries. The Spectra's performance was definitely a disappointment but not quite poor.

#165 of 464 I'll second the above emotion... by iluvmysephia1

Dec 23, 2004 (10:36 pm)

I've already given my opinion on the Lund survey. I'm not saying it's tainted I'm saying it's of limited use in the real world. It's slightly biased, too, or maybe biased isn't the right word. It's jumping to a conclusion that isn't totally true, to the detriment of a car that does have 4-wheel disc brakes and front, side and rear curtain airbags standard equipment. Like I said right after the test, more data to compare is required. Ingtonge's post above affirms what I was thinking about the frontal crash test that was thrust upon us the other day. Like I've said, I wouldn't let that result stop me from buying a new world order Spectra, nor would I let it upset my enjoyment of the nice new sedan or the new Spectra5. They have way too many positives to let a rotten apple spoil them.

#166 of 464 Re: I'll second the above emotion... [iluvmysephia1] by alpha01

Dec 24, 2004 (10:31 am)

Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Dec 23, 2004 10:36 pm)
Just curious, have you ever realized that some criticism of any make and model of car is reasonable and warranted? The fact of the matter is that the new Spectra performed poorly in comparison to every new small car launched in the past 4 years.
 
Putting the overall rating aside, look at the category measures for the Spectra against any of its major competitors. There's no comparison. Kia undelivered. The "rotten apple" comment is really curiuos to me. Why pick the Kia over a better performing, lower priced, higher rated Elantra? Simply because of the logo?
 
My only point is that not all of criticism/negative results/tests of Kia's products are unwarranted, though you seem to dismiss most as biased, not representative, or irrelevant.
 
~alpha
 
PS- Happy Holidays to all!

Messages Page 17 of 47

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement