Driving in sand or mud

  • Maintain slow and constant speed. Operate the accelerator pedal slowly to ensure safe driving (wheel-slip prevention).

  • Keep sufficient distance between your vehicle and a vehicle in front of you.

  • Reduce vehicle speed and always check the road condition.

  • Avoid speeding, rapid acceleration, sudden brake applications, and sharp turns to prevent getting stuck.

  • When the vehicle is stuck in snow, sand or mud, the tires may not operate.

  • This is to protect the transmission and is not a malfunction.

NOTE

Moving the vehicle forcibly to get out of mud or sand can cause damage/overheat of the engine or damage/breakdown of the transmission, differential or 4WD system as well as damage to tires. If excessive wheel slip occurs after entering a sandy/muddy road, the vehicle may fall into the sand/mud. Put a stone or a tree branch under the tire, and then try to pull out the vehicle, or try to get it unstuck by repeatedly moving forwards and backward.

Transmission overheated

OMQ4033146L

A: Transmission Hot! Park with engine on
OMQ4033148L

A: Trans cooled. Resume driving.

  • When driving on muddy and sandy roads under the severe condition, the transmission could overheat.

  • If the transmission overheats, the safe protection mode engages and the "Transmission Hot! Park with engine on" warning message will appear on the LCD display with a chime.

  • Pull over to a safe location, stop the vehicle with the engine running, apply the brakes and shift the vehicle to P (Park), and allow the transmission to cool.

  • If you ignore this warning, the driving condition may worsen. You may experience abrupt shifts, frequent shifts, or jerkiness. To return to normal driving condition, stop the vehicle and apply the foot brake or shift into P (Park). Then allow the transmission to cool for a few minutes with engine on, before driving again.

  • When the message "Trans cooled. Resume driving" appears you can continue to drive your vehicle.

If the warning messages in the LCD display continue to blink, have the system inspected by an authorized Kia dealer.

Tire precautions

Always pay greater attention to tires for AWD vehicles.

When driving in AWD, driving force is applied to all tires, and the driving performance of the vehicle is greatly affected by the degree of tire wear:

  • When replacing tires, be sure to equip all four tires with the same size, type, tread, brand and load-carrying capacity. Do not mount tires and wheels of different sizes and types from the ones originally installed on your vehicle. It can affect the safety and performance of your vehicle, which could lead to steering failure or rollover causing serious injury.

  • Replace the front and rear tire positions every 6,000 miles (10,000 km).

  • Each tire should be checked monthly when cold and inflated to inflation pressure recommended by the vehicle manufacturer on the vehicle placard or tire inflation pressure label.

  • For AWD vehicles, install the chains on the front wheels. However, this may damage the AWD system, so keep the travel distance as short as possible.

Refer to Tire chains.

Towing precautions

Figure 1. AWD vehicle
OMQ4063019
Figure 2. FWD vehicle
OMQ4063019

The AWD vehicle should never be towed with the wheels on the ground. Your vehicle must be towed with a wheel lift and dollies or a flatbed with all the wheels off the ground.

Refer to Towing.

CAUTION

The AWD vehicle cannot be towed with sling-type equipment. Use wheel lift or a flatbed.

WARNING

Your vehicle is equipped with tires designed to provide safe ride and handling capability. Do not use tires and wheels that are different in size and type from the originally installed ones. It can affect the safety and performance of your vehicle, which could lead to steering failure or rollover and serious injury. When replacing the tires, be sure to equip all four tires with the tire and wheel of the same size, type, tread, brand and load-carrying capacity.

WARNING

Jacked vehicle

While the full-time AWD vehicle is being raised on a jack, never start the engine or cause the tires to rotate.

There is a danger that rotating tires touching the ground could cause the vehicle to move off the jack and to jump forward.

  • Full-time AWD vehicles must be tested on a special four-wheel chassis dynamometer.

    NOTE

    Never engage the parking brake while performing these tests.

  • A full-time AWD vehicle should not be tested on a FWD roll tester. If a FWD roll tester must be used, perform the following:

    OMQ4A043005

[A]: Roll tester

[B]: Temporary free roller

  1. Check the tire pressures recommended for your vehicle.

  2. Place the front wheels on the roll tester (A) for a speedometer test.

  3. Release the parking brake.

  4. Place the rear wheels on the temporary free roller (B).

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 vehicle can jump forward and cause serious injury or death.

CAUTION

  • When lifting the vehicle, do not operate the front and rear wheel separately. All four wheels should be operated.

  • If you need to operate the front wheel and rear wheel when lifting the vehicle, you should release the parking brake.