Ioniq 9, EV4, Ato 3... Selected for This Year's Safety Evaluation Models

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority announced on the 1st that they have selected 11 vehicle models for this year's Korea New Car Assessment Program (KNCAP).

This evaluation system assesses the safety of new cars based on standards stricter than the government's automobile safety regulations. The results are disclosed to encourage manufacturers to improve safety. Since its inception in 1999, about 10 vehicle models have been evaluated annually. Up to last year, a total of 233 models have been assessed.

This year, the Hyundai Ioniq 9, Palisade, and Kia Tasman, which received the most votes in a public poll, were included. Additionally, the evaluation will cover the Kia EV4, Tesla Model 3, KG Mobility Musso, BMW iX2, BYD Atto 3 (all battery electric vehicles), Hyundai Nexo (hydrogen electric vehicle), Honda CR-V (hybrid), and Ford Explorer (internal combustion engine). There are six battery electric vehicles, one hydrogen electric vehicle, and two each of hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles.

New Car Safety Evaluation Frontal Collision Demonstration. Provided by Korea Transportation Safety Authority

The evaluation covers 25 items across four areas: crash safety, external pedestrian safety, accident prevention safety, and electric vehicle safety. For the first time this year, pedal misapplication prevention devices and Event Data Recorders (EDR) were included as evaluation items. Also newly evaluated this year are emergency notification devices for traffic accidents to rescue occupants in case of an accident, and post-collision escape and rescue safety.

The Authority stated, "To quickly respond to rapidly changing automotive safety technologies, we are researching performance evaluations of driver monitoring devices and enhancing evaluation items for pedal misapplication prevention devices," adding, "We will continuously develop evaluation items and technologies to increase the effectiveness of the system."