Despite Indonesian-sold Kia Picantos recently receiving a 0 ASEAN NCAP rating, Australian ANCAP says models sold here retain a 5 star rating.

ANCAP HAS CONDUCTED an audit of the 2016 Kia Picanto and confirmed that locally-sold models maintain the vehicle’s five-star ANCAP rating. However, “The audit test revealed a higher risk of serious injury to the driver compared with the initial test conducted in 2011, on which the Picanto’s current 5 star ANCAP safety rating is based,” ANCAP said.

The Kia Picanto was singled out for auditing based on Indonesian models achieving a 0 star rating in ASEAN NCAP testing.

“The trigger for this audit test was the considerable variation in structural performance seen on the Indonesian-sold Picanto,” said James Goodwin, ANCAP Chief Executive Officer.

“We wanted to confirm the validity of our existing rating … The score obtained in the audit test is still within the 5 star range but it is important that consumers are made aware of these findings,” Goodwin said.

The audit test involved ANCAP performing a frontal offset collision test in which the Picanto scored 12.95/16 which is down from the 15.12/16 it scored in 2013. According to ANCAP the 12.95 is the minimum score for the Picanto to be eligible for a five-star rating. The audit results also revealed a change in driver and passenger protection with the rating set at “marginal”.

The final ANCAP score for the Picanto after the audit in June is 34.26 out of 37.