from the manual I understand that they do perform collision detection, just like ph_char and c_move

this is what I read from the manual

Kinematic entities (NX_BF_KINEMATIC) and character controllers (PH_CHAR) are moved with collision detection. Depending on friction, relative position changes must exceed a certain threshold for moving the entity. While moving, forces have no effect on them.

I could be wrong, still...
but the kinematic entities seem to even pass through level geometry