Both the Sorento and Ascent have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Sorento has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Ascent’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Kia Sorento achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - for its performance in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, demonstrating its excellent capabilities in preventing collisions. The Subaru Ascent has not been tested.
Both the Sorento and Ascent have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Sorento has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Ascent’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.
Both the Sorento and the Ascent have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH moderate front offset crash tests on new cars. In this updated test, results indicate that the Sorento is safer than the Ascent:
|
|
Sorento |
Ascent |
| Overall Evaluation |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
| Structure |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
|
Driver Injury Measures |
|
| Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Chest Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Thigh/hip Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Leg/foot Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Restraints |
GOOD |
GOOD |
|
|
Rear Passenger Injury Measures |
|
| Head/Neck Rating |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
| Chest Rating |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
| Thigh Rating |
GOOD |
GOOD |
| Restraints |
GOOD |
ACCEPTABLE |
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Kia Sorento is safer than the Subaru Ascent:
|
|
Sorento |
Ascent |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
25 |
37 |
| Hip Force |
196 lbs. |
274 lbs. |
|
|
Rear Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
73 |
81 |
| Hip Force |
196 lbs. |
346 lbs. |
|
|
Into Pole |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| Max Damage Depth |
15 inches |
18 inches |
| Spine Acceleration |
32 G’s |
52 G’s |
| Hip Force |
552 lbs. |
637 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Sorento is 1.1% less likely to roll over than the Ascent.
The Kia Sorento has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2025 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The Ascent is only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2025.