2008 KIA Sorento brake

13
Introduction
VEHICLE HANDLING
INSTRUCTIONS
As with other vehicles of this type, failure
to operate this vehicle correctly may
result in loss of control, an accident or
vehicle rollover. Specific design charac-
teristics (higher ground clearance, track,
etc.) give this vehicle a higher center of
gravity than ordinary cars. They are not
designed for cornering at the same
speeds as conventional 2-wheel drive
vehicles. Avoid sharp turns or abrupt
maneuvers. Again, failure to operate this
vehicle correctly may result in loss of
control, an accident or vehicle rollover.
Be sure to read the “on-pavement’’
and “off-road’’ driving guidelines,
Section 5 in this manual.
VEHICLE BREAK-IN PROCESS
No special break-in period is needed. By
following a few simple precautions for the
first 1,000 km (600 miles) you may add to
the performance, economy and life of
your vehicle.
• Do not race the engine.
• Do not maintain a single speed for long
periods of time, either fast or slow.
Varying engine speed is needed to
properly break-in the engine.
• Avoid hard stops, except in emergen-
cies, to allow the brakes to seat prop-
erly.
• Avoid full-throttle starts.

Your vehicle at a glance
2 2
INSTRUMENT PANEL OVERVIEW
OBL006001N
1. Light control / Turn signals ................4-51
2. Instrument cluster .............................4-36
3. Wiper/Washer ...................................4-54
4. Climate control system* ............4-59/4-66
5. Audio* ...............................................3-98
6. Passenger’s Air Bag* ........................3-51
7. Hazard ..............................................4-58
8. Hood release lever ............................3-69
9. Driver’s Air Bag*................................3-50
10. Steering wheel ................................4-25
11. Ignition switch ...................................4-2
12. Parking brake lever .........................4-21
13. Shift lever ..........................................4-5
14. Glove box ........................................3-85
* : if equipped
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23
Your vehicle at a glance
ENGINE COMPARTMENT
OBL086001N
1. Air cleaner.........................................7-19
2. Engine oil filler cap ...........................7-11
3. Engine oil dipstick .............................7-11
4. Auto transmission fluid dipstick* .......7-16
5. Brake / clutch* fluid reservoir ............7-14
6. Fuse box .............................................6-7
7. Windshield washer fluid reservoir .....7-18
8. Power steering fluid reservoir ...........7-15
9. Radiator cap .....................................7-13
10. Engine coolant reservoir .................7-12
11. Battery ......................................6-4/7-22
* : if equipped
1435 62
7
89
1110
* The actual engine room in the vehicle may differ from the illustration.

37
Knowing your vehicle
Operating door locks from out-
side the vehicle
• Turn the key toward rear of vehicle to
unlock and toward front of vehicle to
lock.
• Turn the key toward front of vehicle to
lock all doors.
• Turn the key to the right once to unlock
the driver’s door and to the right twice
within 4 seconds to unlock all doors. (if
equipped)• Doors can also be locked and
unlocked with the transmitter key (if
equipped).
• Once the doors are unlocked, it may be
opened by pulling the door handle.
• When closing the door, push the door
by hand. Make sure that doors are
closed securely.
✽
NOTICE
In cold and wet climates door lock and
door mechanisms may not work proper-
ly due to freezing conditions.
To lock a door without the key, push the
inside door lock switch (
➀) to the “LOCK”
position and close the door (
➁).
✽
NOTICE
Always remove the ignition key, engage
the parking brake, close all windows
and lock all doors when leaving your
vehicle unattended.
DOOR LOCKS
E2BLA302 LOCK
UNLOCK6BLA304
➀
➁

Knowing your vehicle
10 3
Impact sensing door unlock sys-
tem (if equipped)
All doors will be automatically unlocked
when the Supplemental Restraint
System (SRS) detects a collision while
the ignition switch is ON.
However, the doors may not be unlocked,
if electrical power in the vehicle should
fail.
Rear door child safety lock
The child safety lock is provided to help
prevent children from accidentally open-
ing the rear doors from inside the vehicle.
The rear door safety locks should be
used whenever children are in the vehi-
cle.
1. Open the rear door.
2. Push the child safety lock located on
the rear edge of the door to the “lock”
position. When the child safety lock is
in the “lock ( )” position, rear door
will not open when the inner door han-
dle is pulled inside the vehicle.
WARNING-Unlocked
vehicles
Leaving your vehicle unlocked can
invite theft or possible harm to you
or others from someone hiding in
your vehicle while you are gone.
Always remove the ignition key,
engage the parking brake, close all
windows and lock all doors when
leaving your vehicle unattended.
WARNING- Unattended
children
An enclosed vehicle can become
extremely hot, causing death or
severe injury to unattended chil-
dren or animals who cannot escape
the vehicle. Furthermore, children
might operate features of the vehi-
cle that could injure them, or they
could encounter other harm, possi-
bly from someone gaining entry to
the vehicle. Never leave children or
animals unattended in your vehicle.
E2BLA306

Knowing your vehicle
24 3
To unfold the rear seat
1. Lift and push the seatback backward
firmly until it clicks into place.
2. Replace the headrest on the seatback.
3. Push the seat cushion down firmly.
Armrest
The armrest is located in the center of
the rear seat. Pull the armrest down from
the seatback.
CAUTION - Rear floor
Do not remove the floor carpet in
your vehicle. Emission control sys-
tem components in the area of the
rear seats cause high exhaust tem-
peratures under the floor.
WARNING- Cargo
Cargo should always be secured to
prevent it from being thrown about
the vehicle in a collision and caus-
ing injury to the vehicle occupants.
Special care should be taken of
objects placed in the rear seats,
since those may hit the front seat
occupants in a frontal collision.
CAUTION - Cargo loading
Make sure the engine is off, the
transmission is in P and the parking
brake is applied whenever loading
or unloading cargo. Failure to take
these steps may allow the vehicle to
move if shift lever is inadvertently
moved to another position.
E2BLB301F

357
Knowing your vehicle
Curtain air bag
Curtain air bags are located along both
sides of the roof rails above the front and
rear doors.
They are designed to help protect the
heads of the front seat occupants and
the rear outboard seat occupants in cer-
tain side impact collisions.
WARNING
• The front seat passenger air bag
is much larger than the steering
wheel air bag and inflates with
considerably more force. It can
seriously hurt or kill a passenger
who is not in the proper position
and wearing the safety belt prop-
erly. The front passengers should
always move their seat as far
back as practical and sit back in
their seat.
• It is essential that the front pas-
sengers always wear their safety
belts when vehicle is in motion,
even when the vehicle is moving
in a parking lot or up a driveway
into garage.
• If the driver brakes the vehicle
heavily prior to an impact, unbelt-
ed occupants will be thrown for-
ward. If the front passenger is not
wearing the safety belts, they will
be directly in front of the air bags
when deployment occurs. In that
situation,seriou
s injury or death
is possible.
(Continued)
(Continued)
• Never allow front passenger to
put their hands, feet or face on or
close to the instrument panel. In
the event of air bag deployment,
such a mispositioned occupant
would be likely to suffer severe
injury or death.
• Never allow children/old and fee-
ble persons/pregnant women to
sit on the front passenger’s seat.
They may be seriously injured by
the air bag inflation when air bag
deploys.
• Do not put objects or stickers on
the instrument panel. Do not
apply any accessory to the front
windshield. Do not install after-
market mirrors or accessories on
the factory-installed rearview mir-
ror. Any of these could interfere
with the deployment of the air bag
or could hit your body at high
speed and cause severe bodily
injury and even death.
S2BLA351

363
Knowing your vehicle
• Just before impact, drivers often brake
heavily. Such heavy braking lowers the
front portion of the vehicle causing it to
“ride” under a vehicle with a higher
ground clearance. Air bags may not
inflate in this "under-ride" situation
because deceleration forces that are
detected by sensors may be signifi-
cantly altered by such “under-ride” col-
lisions.• Air bags may not inflate in rollover acci-
dents. Air bag deployment would not
provide proper protection to the occu-
pants.
However, curtain air bags may inflate
when the vehicle is rolled over by a
side impact collision.• Air bags may not inflate if the vehicle
collides with objects such as utility
poles or trees, where the point of
impact is concentrated to one area and
the full force of the impact is not deliv-
ered to the sensors.
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