KIA Opirus 2004 1.G Owner's Manual
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Safety chains You should always attach chains
between your vehicle and your trail-
er. Cross the safety chains under the
tongue of the trailer so that the
tongue will not drop to the road if it
becomes separated from the hitch.
Instructions about safety chains may
be provided by the hitch manufactur-
er or by the trailer manufacturer.
Follow the manufacturer’s recom-
mendation for attaching safety
chains. Always leave just enough
slack so you can turn with your trail-
er. And, never allow safety chains to
drag on the ground.
Trailer brakes If your trailer weighs more than 453
kg (1000 lbs.) loaded, then it needs
its own brakes and they must be ade-
quate. Be sure to read and follow the
instructions for the trailer brakes so
you’ll be able to install, adjust and
maintain them properly.
Don’t tap into your vehicle's brakesystem.
Driving with a trailer Towing a trailer requires a certain
amount of experience. Before setting
out for the open road, you must get
to know your trailer. Acquaint your-
self with the feel of handling and
braking with the added weight of the
trailer. And always keep in mind that
the vehicle you are driving is now a
good deal longer and not nearly so
responsive as your vehicle is by
itself.
Before you start, check the trailer
hitch and platform, safety chains,
electrical connector(s), lights, tires
and mirror adjustment. If the trailer
has electric brakes, start your vehicle
and trailer moving and then apply the
trailer brake controller by hand to be
sure the brakes are working. This lets
you check your electrical connection
at the same time.
During your trip, check occasionally
to be sure that the load is secure,
and that the lights and any trailer
brakes are still working.
WARNING
Do not use a trailer with its own
brakes unless you are absolute-
ly certain that you have properly
set up the brake system. This is
not a task for amateurs. Use an
experienced, competent trailer
shop for this work.
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Following distance Stay at least twice as far behind the
vehicle ahead as you would when
driving your vehicle without a trailer.
This can help you avoid situations
that require heavy braking and sud-
den turns.Passing You’ll need more passing distance
up ahead when you’re towing a trail-
er. And, because you’re a good deal
longer, you’ll need to go much farther
beyond the passed vehicle before
you can return to your lane.
Backing up Hold the bottom of the steering
wheel with one hand. Then, to move
the trailer to the left, just move your
hand to the left. To move the trailer to
the right, move your hand to the
right. Always back up slowly and, if
possible, have someone guide you.Making turns When you’re turning with a trailer,
make wider turns than normal. Do
this so your trailer won’t strike soft
shoulders, curbs, road signs, trees,
or other objects. Avoid jerky or sud-
den maneuvers. Signal well in
advance.
Turn signals when towing a trailer When you tow a trailer, your vehicle
has to have a different turn signal
flasher and extra wiring. The green
arrows on your instrument panel will
flash whenever you signal a turn or
lane change. Properly connected,
the trailer lights will also flash to alert
other drivers you’re about to turn,
change lanes, or stop.
When towing a trailer, the green
arrows on your instrument panel will
flash for turns even if the bulbs on
the trailer are burned out. Thus, you
may think drivers behind you are
seeing your signals when, in fact,
they are not. It’s important to check
occasionally to be sure the trailer
bulbs are still working. You must also
check the lights every time you dis-
connect and then reconnect the
wires.
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Do not connect a trailer lighting sys-
tem directly to your vehicle’s lighting
system. Use only an approved trailer
wiring harness.
Your Authorized Kia Dealer can
assist you in installing the wiring har-
ness.
Driving on grades Reduce speed and shift to a lower
gear before you start down a long or
steep downgrade. If you don’t shift
down, you might have to use your
brakes so much that they would get
hot and no longer operate efficiently.
On a long uphill grade, shift down
and reduce your speed to around 70
km/h (45 mph) to reduce the possi-
bility of engine and transaxle over-
heating.
If your trailer weighs more than 453
kg (1000 lbs.) and you have an auto-
matic transaxle, you should drive in
D (Drive) when towing a trailer.
Operating your vehicle in D (Drive)
when towing a trailer will minimize
heat buildup and extend the life of
your transaxle.
✽ ✽NOTICE• When towing a trailer on steep
grades (in excess of 12%) pay close
attention to the engine coolant
temperature gauge to ensure the
engine does not overheat. If the
needle of the coolant temperature
gauge moves across the dial
towards “H” (HOT), pull over and
stop as soon as it is safe to do so,
and allow the engine to idle until it
cools down. You may proceed once
the engine has cooled sufficiently.
• You must decide driving speed depending on trailer weight and
uphill grade to reduce the possibil-
ity of engine and transaxle over-
heating.
CAUTION
Failure to use an approved trail-
er wiring harness could result indamage to the vehicle electricalsystem and/or personal injury.
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Parking on hills Generally, you should not park your
vehicle, with a trailer attached, on a
hill. People can be seriously or fatal-
ly injured, and both your vehicle and
the trailer can be damaged if they
begin a downhill trajectory. However, if you ever have to park
your trailer on a hill, here’s how to do
it:
1. Apply your brakes, but don’t shift
into gear.
2. Have someone place chocks under the trailer wheels.
3. When the wheel chocks are in place, release the brakes until the
chocks absorb the load.
4. Reapply the brakes. Apply your parking brake, and then shift to P
(Park) for an automatic transaxle.
5. Release the brakes.
When you are ready to leave after parking on a hill 1. With the automatic transaxle in P (Park), apply your brakes and hold
the brake pedal down while you:
Start your engine;
Shift into gear; and
Release the parking brake.
2. Slowly remove your foot from the brake pedal.
3. Drive slowly until the trailer is clear of the chocks.
4. Stop and have someone pick up and store the chocks.
WARNING
- Parking brake
It can be dangerous to get out of
your vehicle if the parking brake
is not firmly set.
If you have left the engine run-
ning, the vehicle can move sud-
denly. You or others could be
seriously or fatally injured.
WARNING
- Parking on a hill
Parking your vehicle on a hill
with a trailer attached could
cause serious injury or death,
should a down hill trajectory
happen.
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Maintenance when trailer tow-
ing Your vehicle will need service more
often when you regularly pull a trail-
er. Important items to pay particular
attention include engine oil, automat-
ic transaxle fluid, axle lubricant and
cooling system fluid. Brake condition
is another important item to frequent-
ly check. Each item is covered in this
manual, and the Index will help you
find them quickly. If you’re trailering,
it’s a good idea to review these sec-
tions before you start your trip.
Don’t forget to also maintain your
trailer and hitch. Follow the mainte-
nance schedule that accompanied
your trailer and check it periodically.
Preferably, conduct the check at the
start of each day’s driving. Most
importantly, all hitch nuts and bolts
should be tight.
✽ ✽NOTICEDue to higher load during trailer
usage, overheating might occur in
hot days or during uphill driving. If
the coolant gauge indicates over-
heating, switch off the A/C and stop
the vehicle in a safe area to cool
down the engine.
OVERLOADING
CAUTION
The gross axle weight rating
(GAWR) and the gross vehicleweight rating (GVWR) for yourvehicle are on the manufactur-er's label attached to the dri-ver's door. Exceeding these rat-ings can cause an accident orvehicle damage. You can calcu-late the weight of your load byweighing the items (or people)before putting them in the vehi-cle. Be careful not to overloadyour vehicle.
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LABEL INFORMATION There are several important labels
and identification numbers located
on your vehicle. The label locations
are identified in the illustrations fol-
lows:
1GHA601
2GHA5223GHA524
Vehicle identification number (VIN)
VIN labelVIN bar code
2GHA524
Vehicle certification label (MVSS label)
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Tire specification / pressure
label
3GHA523
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HOMELINK® WIRELESS CONTROL SYSTEM (IF EQUIPPED)Your new mirror comes with an inte-
grated HomeLink Universal
Transceiver, which allows you to pro-
gram the mirror to activate your
garage door(s), estate gate, home
lighting, etc. The mirror actually
learns the codes from your various
existing transmitters.
CAUTION
When programming the
HomeLink® Wireless ControlSystem, you may be operatinga garage door or gate opera-tor. Make sure that people andobjects are out of the way ofthe moving door or gate toprevent potential harm ordamage.
Do not use HomeLink with any garage door opener that lacksthe safety stop and reversefeature as required by federalsafety standards. (Thisincludes any garage dooropener model manufacturedbefore April 1, 1982.) A garagedoor opener which cannotdetect an object, signaling thedoor to stop and reverse, doesnot meet current federal safe-ty standards. Using a garagedoor opener without thesefeatures increases risk of seri-ous injury or death. For moreinformation, call 1-800-355-3515 or on the internet atwww.homelink.com.
(Continued)
(Continued) Retain the original transmitter for future programming proce-dures (i.e., new vehicle pur-chase). It is also suggestedthat upon the sale of the vehi-cle, the programmedHomeLink buttons be erasedfor security purposes (followstep 1 in the “Programming”portion of this text).
MMSA5007
Homelink buttons Glare detection sensor
Indicator light
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ProgrammingYour vehicle may require the ignition
switch to be turned to the ACC posi-
tion for programming and/or opera-
tion of HomeLink. It is also recom-
mended that a new battery be
replaced in the hand-held transmitter
of the device being programmed to
HomeLink for quicker training and
accurate transmission of the radio-
frequency.
Follow these steps to train your
HomeLink mirror:1. When programming the buttons
for the first time, press and hold
the left and center buttons ( , ) simultaniously until the
indicator light begins to flash after
approximately 20 seconds. (This
procedure erases the factory-set
default codes. Do Not perform this
step to program additional hand-
held transmitters.)
✽ ✽ NOTICEFor non rolling code garage door
openers, follow steps 2 - 3.
For rolling code garage door open-
ers, follow steps 2 - 6.
For Canadian Programming, please
follow the Canadian Programming
section.
For help with determining whether
your garage is non-rolling code or
rolling code, please refer to the
garage door openers owner’s manu-
al or contact HomeLink customer
service at 1-800-355-3515.
MMSA5005
Flashing
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2. Press and hold the button on the
HomeLink system you wish to train
and the button on the transmitter
while the transmitter is approximate-
ly 3 to 7 cm away from the mirror. Do
not release the buttons until step 3
has been completed. 3. The HomeLink indicator light will
flash, first slowly and then rapidly.
When the indicator light flashes
rapidly, both buttons may be
released. (The rapid flashing light
indicates successful programming
of the new frequency signal.)
✽ ✽NOTICESome gate operators and garage
door openers may require you to
replace step #3 with the “cycling”
procedure noted in the “Canadian
Programming” section of this docu-
ment.
Rolling code programmingTo train a garage door opener (or
other rolling code equipped devices)
with the rolling code feature, follow
these instructions after completing
the “Programming” portion of this
text. (A second person may make the
following training procedures quicker
& easier.)
4. Locate the “learn” or “smart” but-
ton on the device’s motor head
unit. Exact location and color of
the button may vary by product
brand. If there is difficulty locating
the “learn” or “smart” button, refer-
ence the device’s owner’s manual
or contact HomeLink at 1-800-
355-3515 or on the internet at
www.homelink.com.
5. Press and release the “learn” or “smart” button on the device’s
motor head unit. You have 30 sec-
onds to complete step number 6.
MMSA5006
Flashing
Transmitter
3 ~ 7 cm
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