Kia Motors ‘drops’ Grand Carnival down a vertical street
DUBAI, October 20, 2015
Kia Motors has subjected its new Grand Carnival MPV to a highly-demanding new crash test, dropping the vehicle down a specially-designed ‘vertical street.’
Revealed in a dramatic new film from the company, called ‘Vertical Street’, the Kia Grand Carnival was dropped from a height of 12.6 metres down a 90-degree street, replicating the effects of a 56 kph crash, said a statement.
The vertical drop demonstrates the remarkable safety credentials of the new model, which has already won the maximum five-star safety rating from the US’ NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and a Top Safety Pick from the USA’s IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), it said.
Safety is a high priority for buyers of the all-new Kia Grand Carnival, which went on sale globally earlier in 2015, and the ‘Vertical Street’ film demonstrates the strength of the new model’s highly rigid body.
The new Grand Carnival boasts a bodyshell made up of 52 per cent Advanced High Strength Steel (up from seven per cent in the previous model), and a 174 per cent stiffer structure as a result. A sixty-fold increase in the amount of applied structural adhesives further improves bodyshell and chassis strength.
As the Grand Carnival is dropped and rolls on to its roof, the high-strength body maintains its structure, and still enables the power-sliding rear doors to open easily after a serious collision.
Grand Carnival buyers around the world will have access to a number of ‘active’ safety technologies, depending on market. These include Blind Spot Detection and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (warning against other cars driving the Grand Carnival in car parks). The Grand Carnival is also fitted with six airbags, further enhancing occupant safety.
To show the lengths that Kia went to in order to drop the Grand Carnival down the vertical street, the company has released a ‘behind the scenes’ video at the same time, said the statement.
The project took 76 people and 15 days to complete, requiring 6,219.6 metres of steel pipe to create a structure strong enough to hold the Grand Carnival in place, before a crane released the car down a ‘busy’ Vertical Street, it added. - TradeArabia News Service
