The Kia Carens

The automotive industry has become fiercely competitive, and carmakers around the world are striving to provide their cars brimmed with features, spacious interiors, and powertrains to offer the best of both worlds — performance and fuel efficiency.

Kia is one such brand that stands out in the crowd with its vehicles' modern-day and youthful appearance. And the brand-spanking-new Carens is its latest example. In addition to the stunning looks, features, and spacious interior, the Carens also gets plenty of features in the form of the Hi-Safety Package. Interestingly, this safety package comes as standard across all the variants of the Carens. No wonder the Kia Carens far outshines its rivals when it comes to safety features.

What's the Hi-Safety package?

Well, to be precise, the Hi-Safety Package on the Carens is composed of 10 safety features. With this, it has become the first mass-market car in India to offer such high-tech equipment as standard in each of its variants.

How do things work?

For starters, there are six airbags, including front, side, and curtain units providing 360-degree protection to the driver and passengers in case of a crash. Other safety features include electronic stability control (ESC) and vehicle stability management (VSM). The ESC detects even a fleeting loss of control when going faster around corners or during emergency or panic steering manoeuvres and stabilises the car, preventing a rollover, while the VSM controls the vehicle from veering off on slippery or wet roads. Isn't that impressive?

Not only that, but Kia has also given hill assist and downhill brake control systems. To briefly elaborate, the hill assist control automatically puts pressure on the brakes when your car halts on an uphill road to prevent the vehicle from going backwards and depresses the pressure when you accelerate. On the other hand, downhill brake control maintains the lowest constant speed while applying the required brake pressure on an individual wheel to avoid locking the wheels on a steeply sloping road. And all that combines to make driving easy-breezy while keeping you completely unstressed when driving in challenging situations.

What's more?

The four-wheel disc brakes make a day and night difference when it comes to braking. They significantly improve the stopping power of your Carens, even during emergency braking. Additionally, the brake assist function further applies more pressure on brakes, thus drastically reducing the stopping distance in panic braking, especially when you want the car to stop then and there. Not to mention, the tyre pressure monitoring system, rear parking sensors, and anti-lock braking system are also part of this Hi-Safety package, providing comprehensive safety. A cherry on the cake indeed! Everything said assures the safety of your loved ones.

If you are thinking that the safety in the Carens is merely dependent on these standard safety features, the answer is no. Kia has utilised high-strength steel along with high-grade adhesive to build the robust body of the Carens. Thus, providing a robust and safe car to sit inside.

Futuristic technology in your hands

There is more than just the standard safety equipment as Kia has bestowed Carens with numerous connected-car safety features in the form of Kia Connect. In fact, this sophisticated connected-car tech is accessible via your smartwatch or smartphone. It lets you remotely turn on/off the engine, switch on/off air conditioning, lock/unlock the car, switch on/off the air purifier, or even set the desired temperature for the ventilated seats. Believe it or not, it's fun and convenient.

All-round protection

That said, Kia Connect also protects your Carens with advanced always-on features, such as time fence alert, geo-fencing, idle and speed alert, stolen vehicle notification, tracking, and immobilisation. If you dine out or go shopping where valet parking is available, the valet mode helps keep your valuable information safe by locking the infotainment system with a password. It's no exaggeration to say that with Kia Connect, there's always a lot more that you can do.

What accompanies the safety technology in the Carens is the comfort for the whole family and best-in-segment features, such as a high-definition infotainment touchscreen, a digital instrument cluster, a smart in-cabin air purifier, 64-colour ambient lighting, eight speakers Bose premium sound system, cooling function for cup holders, a wireless phone charging pad, and ventilated front seats.

On the whole, the Carens is undoubtedly one of the safest mass-market cars ever made. Notably, Kia fully supports the Government of India's vision to make safer vehicles for India and thus prioritises safety in its cars, such as the Carens.