The minivan is slowly dwindling from the industry, with most people turning toward SUVs and crossovers for their families. As such, the Kia Sedona is one of the few remaining minivans available to large families.

The newest 2021 Kia Sedona is finally here, boasting all the space and comfort families have loved for years. But before you decide to put your family into the 2021 Kia Sedona, you need an answer to one of the most important questions you could ask: is it safe?

Key safety features of the 2021 Kia Sedona

The 2021 Kia Sedona comes with a long list of safety features, but as shown on Kia’s own website, you may have to upgrade above the base LX trim to get the best of these.

According to Kia, the 2021 Sedona minivan comes in three trims: the LX, EX, and SX. All Sedona models, including the base LX, come standard with the safety basics, including 360-degree airbags, rollover mitigation, hands-free connectivity, and a rear-camera display.

Electronic stability control, traction control, electronic brake-force distribution, anti-lock brakes, and hill-start assist are also standard. Base Sedona models also feature a competitive starting base price of around $30,000.

You’ll have to upgrade to either the EX and SX models to earn most of Kia’s best-known safety tech. With starting prices of around $33,000 and $41,000 respectively, the EX and SX offer a much longer list of standard safety features.

Upgrading to the middle-of-the-road EX earns standard park-distance warning (forward and reverse), blind-spot collision warning, and rear cross-traffic collision warning.

Available as options to the EX are forward collision warning, forward collision-avoidance (with pedestrian detection), lane departure warning, driver attention warning, and adaptive cruise control (with stop/go).

Upgrade to the highest SX Sedona and all of these safety features come standard, in addition to a standard surround-view monitor system.

A look at the crash test ratings

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) gives the 2021 Kia Sedona an Overall Safety Rating of 5-Stars, when properly equipped with the recommended, optional safety technology.

Its performance in crash-testing earned it a perfect five stars for all frontal-crash ratings, as well as all side-crash ratings. Unsurprising for a minivan, the Kia Sedona fared slightly worse in rollover testing, earning a rollover risk of 13% and a rating of four stars.

The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has its own feelings about the 2021 Kia Sedona, giving it the best-possible score of “Good” in all “Crashworthiness” categories, except for the passenger-side front.

Its performance in passenger-side crash-testing earns it an “Acceptable” score. When it comes to crash avoidance categories, the Sedona earns a “Superior” rating in front-crash prevention, for its optional driver-assistance technologies.

The Sedona’s headlights, however, is where the good scores stop. Both Halogen and LED headlight options available with the Kia Sedona receive an overall rating of “Poor.” This rating was earned from the Sedona’s excessive glare on low beams.

Is the 2021 Kia Sedona a safe choice?

The newest Kia Sedona is not an unsafe vehicle. In fact, it offers a multitude of great features for families. It is clear, however, that in order to get the safest Sedona, you’ll have to dive into your pockets a bit deeper and upgrade to the highest SX trim.

Even with all the available safety technology, the 2021 Kia Sedona performs well, but not great, in safety testing. While the Kia Sedona certainly offers families a variety of features, there are other vehicles that share the same passenger capacity but offer more standard safety technology and a higher safety rating from experts.