The newest Kia Sorento SUV retained good-safety status in a new round of testing but failed to achieve the highest rating.

At the same time, several other midsize vehicles fell short of either of the top safety awards bestowed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Kia’s midsize luxury SUV held onto the nonprofit’s Top Safety Pick rating with its 2025 version, but back-seat tweaks intended to boost protection to those occupants failed to elevate the Sorento to Top Safety Pick+ status, IIHS’ highest safety rating. The group said crash tests found increased risk of head, neck and internal injuries.

Meanwhile, tests on the 2025 Nissan Altima and 2024 electric luxury SUVs Acura ZDX and Honda Prologue rated them short of either top award. 

Nissan also made changes to the Altima’s rear seats, but crash tests found elevated risk of internal injuries and restraint system failure. 

For both the Acura and Prologue, the passenger crash test dummy’s head slipped between the front and side airbags, IIHS said. The Acura’s headlights, though, improved from a poor rating in earlier models to good.

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