2018 Kia Sedona Captures Top Safety Pick

The 2018 Kia Sedona minivan has earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award when equipped with optional front crash prevention and good-rated headlights.

Criteria for capturing a 2018 Top Safety Pick award include a "good" rating in five key IIHS crash tests — driver-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests. Additionally, a vehicle must garner a rating of "advanced" or "superior" for front crash prevention as well as an "acceptable" or "good" headlight rating.

Since it was last redesigned in 2015, the Sedona has consistently earned good ratings in the five main crashworthiness tests. The minivan has yet to be rated for passenger-side small overlap front protection, but if it earns an "acceptable" or "good" rating, it could quality for the IIHS's highest award, the Top Safety Pick+.

The Sedona earns a "superior" rating for front crash prevention when equipped with the optional automatic braking system. A Sedona equipped with the system succeeded in avoiding a collision during 12 mph and 25 mph track test

The optional headlights on Sedonas built after May 2017 have high-intensity discharge, curve-adaptive low beams that provide good visibility in all scenarios without too much glare, while the high beams provide fair to good visibility. The system comes with high-beam assist, which automatically switches between high beams and low beams depending on the presence of other vehicles.

The Sedona's standard halogen headlights drew a "poor" rating.