Kia K4 Safety Ratings: Pick Your Variant Carefully
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Tuesday 2 September 2025 — ANCAP has published separate safety ratings for the new Kia K4 sedan, and the result is a neat little lesson in buyer beware. Most K4 variants earn a reassuring five stars. The base S model, unless you tick a box and buy the optional Safety Pack, brings home only four.
Which Variants Made Five Stars
The Sport, Sport+, GT-Line and the S that comes with the Safety Pack all carried the hardware and software needed to score five stars. Across the range the K4 showed solid crash protection in the physical tests and was relatively gentle on whatever unfortunate vehicle it collided with, scoring well for aggressivity.
Why The Base S Misses Out
The base S grades use different components and a softer software tune than the higher-spec cars. That omission means its autonomous emergency braking system cannot reliably detect or react to T-bone intersection crossing scenarios. The car does have emergency lane keep for oncoming and overtaking situations, but the tuning does not reliably spot vehicles or motorcycles in the adjacent lane. The result is a 13 percent drop in the Safety Assist score and lower protection for vulnerable road users, which drags the S down to four stars.
How The Scores Break Down
Across all variants adult occupant protection sits at 83 percent and child occupant protection at 80 percent. Vulnerable road user protection is 73 percent for the base S and 77 percent for the S with Safety Pack and the higher grades. Safety Assist is 64 percent on the base S and 77 percent on the five-star variants.
ANCAP’s Position And Consumer Advice
ANCAP allows a dual rating where active safety features are optional, provided those features are available for the base model as a purchasable Safety Pack. The safety authority welcomed the five-star result for most K4s but warned that the base grade without the optional pack does not offer the same level of standard safety. Their blunt advice is simple: check the rating of the exact variant you intend to buy. Safety should not be a pay-for option in 2025, and manufacturers should offer the same baseline of protection across a model range.
If you are shopping K4s, treat the Safety Pack as more than an extra; it is the difference between four stars and five.
Zachary Skinner is the editor of TechDrivePlay.com, where tech, cars and adventure share the fast lane.
A former snowboarding pro and programmer, he brings both creative flair and technical know-how to his reviews. From high-performance cars to clever gadgets, he explores how innovation shapes the way we move, connect and live.
