Driving your vehicle
12
5
✽
✽
NOTICE
If you press the engine start/stop
button without depressing the brake
pedal, the engine will not start and
the engine start/stop button changes
as follow:
OFF ➔ ➔
ACC ➔
➔
ON ➔
➔
OFF or ACC
✽
✽
NOTICE
If you leave the engine start/stop
button in the ACC or ON position
for a long time, the battery will dis-
charge.
WARNING
Never press the engine
start/stop button while the
vehicle is in motion. This
would result in loss of direc-
tional control and braking
function, which could cause
an accident.
Before leaving the driver's seat, always make sure the
shift lever is engaged in P
(Park), set the parking brake
fully and shut the engine off.
Unexpected and sudden vehi-
cle movement may occur if
these precautions are not
taken.
(Continued)
(Continued)
Never reach for the enginestart/stop button or any other
controls through the steering
wheel while the vehicle is in
motion. The presence of your
hand or arm in the area could
cause loss of vehicle control,
an accident and serious bodi-
ly injury or death.
Do not place any movable objects around the driver's
seat as they may move while
driving, interfere with the driv-
er and lead to an accident.
Driving your vehicle
20
5
Good driving practices
Never move the shift lever from P
(Park) or N (Neutral) to any other
position with the accelerator pedal
depressed.
Never move the shift lever into "P" when the vehicle is in motion.
Be sure the vehicle is completely stopped before you attempt to shift
into R (Reverse) or D (Drive).
Never take the vehicle out of gear and coast down a hill. This may be
extremely hazardous. Always leave
the vehicle in gear when moving.
Do not "ride" the brakes. This can cause them to overheat and mal-
function. Instead, when you are
driving down a long hill, slow down,
move the shift lever to manual shift
mode and shift to a lower gear.
When using manual shift mode, slow down before shifting to a
lower gear. Always use the parking brake and
shift into P (Park) when parking the
vehicle. Do not depend on placing
the transaxle in P (Park) to keep
the vehicle from moving.
Exercise extreme caution when driving on a slippery surface. Be
especially careful when braking,
accelerating or shifting gears. On a
slippery surface, an abrupt change
in vehicle speed can cause the
drive wheels to lose traction and
the vehicle to go out of control.
Optimum vehicle performance and economy is obtained by smoothly
depressing and releasing the
accelerator pedal.WARNING
Always buckle-up! In a colli-sion, an unbelted occupant is
significantly more likely to be
seriously injured or killed than
a properly belted occupant.
Avoid high speeds when cor- nering or turning.
Do not make quick steering wheel movements, such as
sharp lane changes or fast,
sharp turns.
The risk of rollover is greatly increased if you lose control
of your vehicle at highway
speeds.
Loss of control often occurs if two or more wheels drop off the
roadway and the driver over-
steers to reenter the roadway.
In the event your vehicle leaves the roadway, do not
steer sharply. Instead, slow
down before pulling back into
the travel lanes.
Never exceed posted speed limits.
Driving your vehicle
24
5
For safe all wheel drive opera-
tion
Do not try to drive in deep standing
water 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 - All wheel
driving
When conditions demand the
use of four-wheel drive, all func-
tions of your vehicle are
exposed to extreme stress.
Slow down and be ready for
changes in the composition and
traction of the surface under
your tires. If you have any
doubt about the safety of the
conditions you are facing, stop
and consider the best way to
proceed. Do not exceed the abil-
ity 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
Driving your vehicle
26
5
✽
✽
NOTICE
• Do not drive through water if the
level is higher than the bottom of
the vehicle.
• 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 section
7). 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 AWD 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 all wheel drive vehicle cannot be towed by an ordinary
tow truck. Make sure that the
vehicle is placed on a flat bed
truck for towing.CAUTION - Mud or snow
If one of the front or rear wheels
begins to spin in mud, snow,etc. the vehicle can sometimesbe driven out by depressing theaccelerator pedal further; how-ever avoid running the enginecontinuously at high rpmbecause doing so could dam-age the AWD system.
WARNING - AWD driving
Avoid high cornering speed.
Do not make quick steering wheel movements, such as
sharp lane changes or fast,
sharp turns.
The risk of rollover is greatly increased if you lose control
of your vehicle at high speed.
In a collision, an unbelted per- son is significantly more like-
ly to die compared to a person
wearing a seat belt.
Loss of control often occurs if two or more wheels drop off
the roadway and the driver
over steers to re-enter the
roadway. In the event your
vehicle leaves the roadway, do
not steer sharply. Instead,
slow down before pulling
back into the travel lanes.
Driving your vehicle
30
5
When the ECO mode is activated:
The acceleration response may be
slightly reduced.
The air conditioner performance may be limited.
The shift pattern of the automatic transaxle may change.
The engine noise may get louder.
The above situations are normal
conditions when the ECO mode is
activated to improve fuel efficiency.
Limitation of the ECO mode oper- ation:
If the following conditions occur while
ECO mode is operating, fuel efficien-
cy may decrease even though there
is no change in the ECO indicator.
When the coolant temperature is low:
Fuel efficiency may decrease until
engine temperature reaches nor-
mal.
When driving up a hill: Fuel efficiency may decrease to
gain performance when driving
uphill because engine torque is
restricted.
When using the automatic transaxle manual shift mode:
Fuel efficiency may decrease
according to the shift location.
When the accelerator pedal is deeply depressed for a few sec-
onds:
Fuel efficiency may decrease,
judging that the driver wants to
speed up.
SPORT mode
SPORT mode managesthe driving dynamics by
automatically adjusting the
steering wheel, engine
and transaxle system to
optimize performance.
When the SPORT mode is select- ed by pressing the DRIVE MODE
button, the SPORT indicator (yel-
low color) will illuminate.
Restarting of the engine in the SPORT mode resets the DRIVE
mode to the NORMAL mode. Thus,
when necessary, reselect the
SPORT mode.
When the SPORT mode is activat- ed:
- The RPM (revolutions per min-utes) level is maintained over a
certain length of time, even after
releasing the accelerator pedal.
- When accelerating, up-shifting timing is delayed.
✽ ✽ NOTICE
In the SPORT mode, the fuel effi-
ciency may decrease.
Driving your vehicle
50
5
✽
✽
NOTICE
Turning the ESC OFF does not
affect ABS or standard brake sys-
tem operation.
Vehicle stability management
(VSM) (if equipped)
This system provides further
enhancements to vehicle stability
and steering responses when a vehi-
cle is driving on a slippery road or a
vehicle detected changes in coeffi-
cient of friction between right wheels
and left wheels when braking.
VSM operation
When the VSM is in operation, ESC
indicator light ( ) blinks.
When the vehicle stability manage-
ment is operating properly, you can
feel a slight pulsation in the vehicle
and/or abnormal steering responses
(EPS). This is only the effect of brake
and EPS control and indicates noth-
ing unusual. The VSM does not operate when:
Driving on a banked road such as
gradient or incline
Driving rearward
ESC OFF indicator light ( ) remains on the instrument cluster
EPS indicator light remains on the instrument cluster
VSM operation off
If you press the ESC OFF button to
turn off the ESC, the VSM will also
cancel and the ESC OFF indicator
light ( ) illuminates.
To turn on the VSM, press the button
again. The ESC OFF indicator light
goes out.
CAUTION
To prevent damage to thetransaxle:
Do not allow wheel(s) of one axle to spin excessively whilethe ESC, ABS, and brakewarning lights are displayed.The repairs would not be cov-ered by the vehicle warranty.Reduce engine power and donot spin the wheel(s) exces-sively while these lights aredisplayed.
When operating the vehicle on a dynamometer, ensure theESC is turned off (ESC OFFlight illuminated).
Driving your vehicle
70
5
To temporarily accelerate with
the cruise control on:
If you want to speed up temporarily
when the cruise control is on,
depress the accelerator pedal.
Increased speed will not interfere
with cruise control operation or
change the set speed.
To return to the set speed, take your
foot off the accelerator pedal.
To cancel cruise control, do
one of the following:
Depress the brake pedal.
Shift into N (Neutral) with an auto-
matic transaxle.
Press the CANCEL switch located on the steering wheel.
Decrease the vehicle speed lower than the memory speed by 9 mph
(15 km/h).
Decrease the vehicle speed to less than approximately 25 mph (40
km/h).
Each of these actions will cancelcruise control operation (the SETindicator light in the instrument clus-ter will go off), but it will not turn thesystem off. If you wish to resumecruise control operation, move up thetoggle switch (to RES+) located onyour steering wheel. You will return toyour previously preset speed.
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Driving your vehicle
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5
To temporarily accelerate with the
Smart Cruise Control on
If you want to speed up temporarily
when the Smart Cruise Control is on,
depress the accelerator pedal.
Increased speed will not interfere
with Smart Cruise Control operation
or change the set speed.
To return to the set speed, take your
foot off the accelerator.
If you push the toggle switch down
(SET-) at increased speed, the cruis-
ing speed will be set again.
✽ ✽ NOTICE
Be careful when accelerating tem-
porarily, because the speed is not
controlled automatically at this
time even if there is a vehicle in front
of you.
Smart Cruise Control will be tem-
porarily canceled when:
Cancelled manually
Depress the brake pedal.
Press the CANCEL button located on the steering wheel.
Press the CANCEL button when the vehicle is at a standstill. The Advanced Smart Cruise Control
turns off temporarily when the indica-
tor on the LCD display turns off.
The CRUISE indicator is illuminated
continuously.
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