Compare the2027 Kia Telluride VS 2026 Toyota Sequoia

Both the Telluride and Sequoia have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Telluride has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Sequoia’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Telluride has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Sequoia doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

In a Vehicle-to-Vehicle Frontal Crash Prevention 2.0 test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Kia Telluride achieved a “Good” rating - the highest possible - in forward collision warning and automatic braking systems, outperforming the Toyota Sequoia, which scored only a “Marginal” in these critical safety features.

Full-time four-wheel drive is optional on the Telluride. Full-time four-wheel drive gives added traction for safety in all conditions, not just off-road, like the only system available on the Sequoia.

The Kia Telluride’s rear backup camera has a standard washer for maintaining a clear view under various conditions. In contrast, the Toyota Sequoia does not offer a rear camera washer, meaning its effectiveness relies on manual cleaning by the user when necessary.

For better protection of the passenger compartment, the Telluride uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Sequoia uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.

Both the Telluride and the Sequoia have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH moderate front offset crash tests on new cars. In this updated test, results indicate that the Telluride is much safer than the Sequoia:

	Telluride	Sequoia
Overall Evaluation	GOOD	MARGINAL
Structure	GOOD	GOOD
	Driver Injury Measures
Head/Neck Rating	GOOD	GOOD
Chest Rating	GOOD	GOOD
Thigh/hip Rating	GOOD	GOOD
Leg/foot Rating	GOOD	ACCEPTABLE
Leg Forces L/R	405/495 pounds	405/1102 pounds
Restraints	GOOD	GOOD
	Rear Passenger Injury Measures
Head/Neck Rating	GOOD	GOOD
Neck Injury Chance	0%	180%
Chest Rating	GOOD	ACCEPTABLE
Thigh Rating	GOOD	GOOD
Thigh Compression L/R	67/90 pounds	8542/944 pounds
Restraints	GOOD	MARGINAL

The Kia Telluride (built after June 2026) has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2026 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test, and a “Good” score in the revised vehicle-to-vehicle crash prevention test. The Sequoia is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2026.

The Telluride comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Sequoia’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Kia’s powertrain warranty covers the Telluride 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Toyota covers the Sequoia. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Sequoia ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2025 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Kia vehicles are better in initial quality than Toyota vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia above average in initial quality. With 19 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is rated below average.

On the EPA test cycle the Telluride gets better mileage than the Sequoia:

			MPG
Telluride
	FWD	EX 2.5 turbo 4-cyl. Hybrid	34 city/36 hwy
		EX 2.5 turbo 4-cyl. Hybrid	32 city/34 hwy
		2.5 turbo 4-cyl.	20 city/26 hwy
	AWD	2.5 turbo 4-cyl. Hybrid	30 city/32 hwy
		2.5 turbo 4-cyl.	18 city/24 hwy
Sequoia
	RWD	3.4 turbo V6 Hybrid	21 city/24 hwy
	AWD	3.4 turbo V6 Hybrid	19 city/22 hwy

Both the Telluride and Sequoia have a standard automatic start/stop engine feature to stop unnecessary fuel waste and pollution at stoplights and heavy traffic. The Telluride has a standard disable switch for the system, so a driver can keep the engine from shutting off when the vehicle stops temporarily.

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Kia Telluride uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Sequoia requires premium, which can cost on average about 84.9 cents more per gallon.

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Kia Telluride higher (6 out of 10) than the Toyota Sequoia (4). This means the Telluride produces up to 12.1 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Sequoia every 15,000 miles.

The Telluride stops much shorter than the Sequoia:

	Telluride	Sequoia
70 to 0 MPH	176 feet	194 feet	Car and Driver
60 to 0 MPH	125 feet	129 feet	Motor Trend

The Telluride LX/EX Hybrid’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 65 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Sequoia’s standard 70 series tires. The Telluride X-Line’s tires have a lower 45 series profile than the Sequoia Capstone’s 50 series tires.

The Telluride has standard front and rear stabilizer bars, which help keep the Telluride flat and controlled during cornering. The Sequoia’s suspension doesn’t offer a rear stabilizer bar.

The Telluride SX Prestige handles at .81 G’s, while the Sequoia Capstone pulls only .76 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

For better maneuverability, the Telluride’s turning circle is 1 foot tighter than the Sequoia’s (39.2 feet vs. 40.2 feet). The Telluride’s turning circle is 5.3 feet tighter than the Sequoia TRD Pro’s (39.2 feet vs. 44.5 feet).

The Kia Telluride may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 1100 to 1250 pounds less than the Toyota Sequoia.

The Telluride is 8.9 inches shorter than the Sequoia, making the Telluride easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

Unibody construction lowers the Telluride’s center of gravity significantly without reducing ground clearance. This contributes to better on the road handling and better off-road performance and stability. In addition, unibody construction makes the chassis stiffer, improving handling and reducing squeaks and rattles. The Sequoia doesn’t use unibody construction, but a body-on-frame design.

The Telluride has .8 inches more front headroom, .2 inches more front legroom, 2 inches more rear headroom, 3.8 inches more rear legroom and 1.8 inches more third row headroom than the Sequoia.

The Telluride’s cargo area provides more volume than the Sequoia.

	Telluride	Sequoia
Behind Third Seat	22.3 cubic feet	11.5 cubic feet
Second Seat Folded	89.3 cubic feet	86.9 cubic feet

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Telluride’s second and third row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Sequoia doesn’t offer automatic folding second row seats.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Kia Telluride has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console for two separate devices. Wireless charging costs extra on the Sequoia and isn’t available on the Sequoia SR5, and only charges one device.

The Telluride Prestige’s Remote Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The Sequoia doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

Motor Trend selected the Telluride as their 2020 Sport Utility of the Year. The Sequoia has never been chosen.

A group of representative automotive journalists from North America selected the Telluride as the 2020 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year. The Sequoia has never been chosen.

The Kia Telluride outsold the Toyota Sequoia by almost five to one during 2025.