Malibu, SM6, K7 named safest car of the year

GM Korea’s Chevrolet Malibu, Renault Samsung’s SM6 and K7 from Kia Motors were named the 2016 safest car of the year during a ceremony held by Korea’s transportation ministry Tuesday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport examined a total of 14 new vehicles launched from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 in South Korea. Nine domestic and five imported cars were reviewed for the annual assessment. 

The Chevrolet Malibu by GM Korea, the South Korean unit of US carmaker General Motors, and SM6 by Renault Samsung Motors, the local unit of French automaker Renault S.A., each scored the highest with 92.1 points out of a possible 100, while K7 by Kia Motors received 91.7 points. 

All of the nine domestic cars received the first grade in the assessment in four categories including a crash test, pedestrian safety, driving safety and accident prevention.

The average score this year was 89.3 points, increasing by 0.6 from last year’s 88,7 points. 

The Chevrolet Malibu was given 65.1 points out of a possible 67 in a crash test, and 18.5 points out of 25 in pedestrian safety and 9.5 out of 10 for driving safety, according to the ministry. The SM6 received 65.1 points in a crash test, 17.3 for pedestrian safety and 9.5 points for driving safety.

The cars that received the first grade safety mark are Kia Niro, Sportage and K7, Hyundai IONIQ and Avante, the Chevrolet Spark and Malibu, Renault Korea’s SM6 and QM6, Ford Mondeo and Toyota RAV4.

Volkswagen Jetta, the Chevrolet Impala and the Peugeot 2008 were given second degree safety marks.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)