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Driving your vehicle
For safe four-wheel drive oper- ation
Do not try to drive in deep standingwater or mud since such conditions
can stall your engine and clog your
exhaust pipes. Do not drive down
steep hills since it requires extreme
skill to maintain control of the vehi-
cle. When you are driving up or down
hills drive as straight as possible.
Use extreme caution in going up or
down steep hills, since you may flip
your vehicle over depending on the
grade, terrain and water/mud con-
ditions.
WARNING - Four-wheel
driving
The conditions of on-road or
off-road that demand four-wheel drive mean all functions
of your vehicle are exposed to
extreme stress than under nor-
mal road conditions. Slow down
and be ready for changes in thecomposition and traction of the
surface under your tires. If you
have any doubt about the safety
of the conditions you are fac-
ing, stop and consider the best
way to proceed. Do not exceed
the ability of yourself or your
vehicle to operate safely.
WARNING - Hills
Driving across the contour of
steep hills can be extremely
dangerous. This danger can
come from slight changes in the
wheel angle which can destabi-
lize the vehicle or, even if the
vehicle is maintaining stability
under power, it can lose that
stability if the vehicle stops its
forward motion. Your vehicle
may roll over without warning
and without time for you to cor-rect a mistake that could cause
serious injury or death.
HILL1HILL2
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You must consciously take the
effort to learn how to corner in a
4WD vehicle. Do not rely on your
experience in conventional 2WD
vehicles in choosing safe cornering
speed in 4WD mode. For starters,
you must drive more slowly in
4WD.
Drive carefully off-road because your vehicle may be damaged by
rocks or roots of trees. Become
familiar with the off-road conditions
where you are going to drive
before you begin driving. Always hold the steering wheel firm-
ly when you are driving off-road.
Make sure all passengers are wearing seat belts. If you need to drive in the water,
stop your vehicle, set your transfer
to the 4L mode and drive at lessthan 8 km/h (5 mph).
WARNING - 4WD
Reduce speed when you turn
corners. The center of gravity of
4WD vehicles is higher than
that of conventional 2WD vehi-
cles, making them more likely to
roll over when you turn cornerstoo fast.
WARNING - Wind danger
If you are driving in heavy wind,
the vehicle's higher center of
gravity decreases your steering
control capacity and requires
you to drive more slowly.
WARNING - Driving
through water
Drive slowly. If you are driving
too fast in water, the water can
get into the engine compart-ment and wet the ignition sys-
tem, causing your vehicle to
suddenly stop. If this happens
and your vehicle is in a tilted
position, your vehicle may roll
over.
WARNING - Steering wheel
Do not grab the inside of the
steering wheel when you are
driving off-road. You may hurt
your arm by a sudden steering
maneuver or from steeringwheel rebound due to impact
with objects on the ground. You
could lose control of the steer-ing wheel.
OHM056102L
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Driving your vehicle
✽✽NOTICE
Do not drive in water if the level is higher than the bottom of the vehi-
cle.
Check your brake condition once you are out of mud or water. Press
the brake pedal several times as
you move slowly until you feel nor-
mal braking forces return.
Shorten your scheduled mainte- nance interval if you drive in off-
road conditions such as sand, mud
or water (see “Maintenance under
severe usage conditions” in chapter
8). Always wash your vehicle thor-
oughly after off road use, especially
cleaning the bottom of the vehicle.
Since the driving torque is always applied to the 4 wheels the per-
formance of the 4WD vehicle is
greatly affected by the condition of
the tires. Be sure to equip the vehi-
cle with four tires of the same size
and type.
A full time four wheel drive vehi- cle cannot be towed by an ordi-
nary tow truck. Make sure that
the vehicle is placed on a flat bed
truck for moving.Reducing the risk of a rollover
This multi-purpose passenger vehicle
is defined as a Sports Utility Vehicle
(SUV). SUV’s have higher ground
clearance and a narrower track to
make them capable of performing in a
wide variety of off-road applications.
Specific design characteristics give
them a higher center of gravity than
ordinary vehicles. An advantage of the
higher ground clearance is a better
view of the road, which allows you to
anticipate problems. They are not
designed for cornering at the same
speeds as conventional passenger
vehicles, any more than low-slung
sports vehicles are designed to per-
form satisfactorily in off-road condi-
tions. Due to this risk, driver and pas-sengers are strongly recommended to
buckle their seat belts. In a rollover
crash, an unbelted person is more
likely to die than a person wearing a
seat belt. There are steps that a driver
can make to reduce the risk of a
rollover. If at all possible, avoid sharp
turns or abrupt maneuvers, do not
load your roof rack with heavy cargo,
and never modify your vehicle in any
way.CAUTION - Mud or snow
If one of the front or rear wheels
begins to spin in mud, snow,etc. the vehicle can sometimes be driven out by depressing theaccelerator pedal further; how-ever avoid running the engine continuously at high rpmbecause doing so could dam-age the 4WD system.
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Driving your vehicle
32
6
WARNING - Rollover
As with other Sports Utility
Vehicle (SUV), failure to operate
this vehicle correctly may result
in loss of control, an accident or
vehicle rollover.
Utility vehicles have a signifi- cantly higher rollover rate
than other types of vehicles.
Specific design characteris- tics (higher ground clearance,
narrower track, etc.) give this
vehicle a higher center of
gravity than ordinary vehicles.
A SUV is not designed for cor- nering at the same speeds as
conventional vehicles.
Avoid sharp turns or abrupt maneuvers.
In a rollover crash, an unbelt- ed person is significantly
more likely to die than a per-
son wearing a seat belt. Make
sure everyone in the vehicle is
properly buckled up.WARNING
Your vehicle is equipped with
tires designed to provide safe
ride and handling capability. Do
not use a size and type of tire
and wheel that is different from
the one that is originally
installed on your vehicle. It can
affect the safety and perform-
ance of your vehicle, whichcould lead to steering failure or
rollover and serious injury.
When replacing the tires, be
sure to equip all four tires withthe tire and wheel of the same
size, type, tread, brand and
load-carrying capacity. If you
nevertheless decide to equip
your vehicle with any tire/wheelcombination not recommended
by Kia for off road driving, you
should not use these tires for
highway driving.WARNING - Jacked
vehicle
While the full-time 4WD vehicle
is being raised on a jack, never
start the engine or cause the
tires to rotate.
There is the danger that rotating
tires touching the ground could
cause the vehicle to go off the
jack and to jump forward.
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Driving your vehicle
Full-time 4WD vehicles must betested on a special four wheel
chassis dynamometer.
Part-time 4WD vehicles must be tested on a 2WD roll tester with the
transfer shift knob in the 2H posi-tion.
✽✽ NOTICE
Never engage the parking brake
while performing these tests.
A full-time 4WD vehicle should not be tested on a 2WD roll tester. If a
2WD roll tester must be used, per-
form the following: 1. Check the tire pressures recom-
mended for your vehicle.
2. Place the rear wheels on the roll tester for a speedometer test as
shown in the illustration.
3. Release the parking brake.
4. Place the front wheels on the tem- porary free roller as shown in the
illustration.
OHM058020Roll tester (speedometer)
Temporary free roller
WARNING - Dynamometer testing
Keep away from the front of the
vehicle while the vehicle is in
gear on the dynamometer. This
is very dangerous as the vehi-
cle can jump forward and cause
serious injury or death.
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6
Power brakes
Your vehicle has power-assisted
brakes that adjust automatically
through normal usage.
In the event that the power-assisted
brakes lose power because of astalled engine or some other reason,
you can still stop your vehicle by
applying greater force to the brake
pedal than you normally would. The
stopping distance, however, will be
longer.
When the engine is not running, the
reserve brake power is partially
depleted each time the brake pedal
is applied. Do not pump the brake
pedal when the power assist has
been interrupted.
Pump the brake pedal only when
necessary to maintain steering con-
trol on slippery surfaces. BRAKE SYSTEM (Continued)
Always test your brakes in this fashion after driving
through deep water. To dry the
brakes, apply them lightly
while maintaining a safe for-
ward speed until brake per-
formance returns to normal.
Always, confirm the position of the brake and accelerator
pedal before driving. If you
don’t check the position of theaccelerator and brake pedal
before driving, you maydepress the accelerator
instead of the brake pedal. It
may cause a serious accident.WARNING - Brakes
Do not drive with your foot resting on the brake pedal. This will create abnormal high
brake temperatures, exces-sive brake lining and pad
wear, and increased stoppingdistances.
When descending a long or steep hill, shift to a lower gear
and avoid continuous applica-
tion of the brakes. Continuousbrake application will cause
the brakes to overheat and
could result in a temporary
loss of braking performance.
Wet brakes may impair the vehicle’s ability to safely slow
down; the vehicle may alsopull to one side when the
brakes are applied. Applying
the brakes lightly will indicate
whether they have been
affected in this way.
(Continued)
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Driving your vehicle
In the event of brake failure
If service brakes fail to operate while
the vehicle is in motion, you can
make an emergency stop with the
parking brake. The stopping dis-
tance, however, will be much greater
than normal.
Disc brakes wear indicator
When your brake pads are worn and
new pads are required, you will hear
a high-pitched warning sound from
your front brakes or rear brakes (if
equipped). You may hear this sound
come and go or it may occur when-
ever you depress the brake pedal.
Please remember that some driving
conditions or climates may cause a
brake squeal when you first apply (or
lightly apply) the brakes. This is nor-
mal and does not indicate a problem
with your brakes.
CAUTION
To avoid costly brake repairs,do not continue to drive withworn brake pads.
Always replace the front or rear brake pads as pairs.
WARNING - Parking brake
Applying the parking brake
while the vehicle is moving atnormal speeds can cause a
sudden loss of control of the
vehicle. If you must use theparking brake to stop the vehi-
cle, use great caution in apply-
ing the brake.
CAUTION
Do not operate the parking brake while the vehicle is mov-ing except in an emergency sit- uation. It could damage thevehicle system and makeendanger driving safety.
WARNING - Brake wear
This brake wear warning sound
means your vehicle needs serv-
ice. If you ignore this audible
warning, you will eventually
lose braking performance,
which could lead to a seriousaccident.
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36
6
Parking brake
Applying the parking brake
To engage the parking brake, first
apply the foot brake and then depress
the parking brake pedal down as far
as possible. In addition it is recom-
mended that when parking the vehicle
on an incline, the shift lever should be
in the P (Park) position.
Releasing the parking brake
To release the parking brake,
depress the parking brake pedal a
second time while applying the foot
brake. The pedal will automatically
extend to the fully released position.
If the parking brake pedal does notrelease or does not release all the
way, we recommend that the system
be checked by an authorized kia
dealer.
CAUTION
Driving with the parking brake
applied will cause excessivebrake pad and brake rotorwear.
Do not operate the parking brake while the vehicle ismoving except in an emer- gency situation. It could dam-age the vehicle system andmake endanger driving safety.
OHM058021
OHM058022