Safety & Security

ESC with new Hill-Start Assist available for every New cee’d

Kia’s engineers have worked hard to ensure that New cee’d is one of the safest cars in the C-segment and has the highest levels of active and passive safety, to fully satisfy the ever increasing consumer expectations about this aspect of car design. The original Kia cee’d achieved a 5-Star Euro NCAP safety rating in 2007 and Kia anticipates that the New cee’d will perform equally well in the tougher tests now being applied to new cars.

New cee’d has many stress-reducing features to help maintain driver alertness, plus its active safety features, such as stable handling, precise steering, and powerful braking, result in drivers of this Kia being fully equipped to avoid potential accident situations and cope with everyday motoring hazards.

As before, every New cee’d has a powerful all-disc braking system featuring ABS anti-lock with EBD electronic brake force distribution. The ESC system, which now incorporates a Hill-Start Assist Control (HAC) programme to prevent roll-back, is standard on TX models and available as an option on all others. ESC comes with a Traction Control System (TCS) and BAS. The system is fully automatic and operates at all times, in all weathers, reducing under-steer or over-steer and returning the car to the course intended by the driver.

Three options boost safety performance even further. The Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) will trigger an instrument cluster display indicating which tyre is punctured or has low pressure.

Kia’s Park Assist System (a rear parking aid), has four sensors and enhances safety during low-speed manoeuvres. The system gives the driver an audible alert when reversing towards an obstruction. The intensity of the warning increases as the car gets closer to the person, animal or object.

Unique to the Kia cee’d family, innovative ‘Hydro-phobic’ glass is an option for all door glass. Coated with a water repellent film, the hydro-phobic glass enhances safety by encouraging rain to flow away quickly, leaving the driver with greatly improved visibility.

Safeguarding occupants to maximise protection

If an accident is unavoidable, New cee’d is engineered to safeguard the occupants with a robust bodyshell and a range of passive safety measures to offer its occupants maximum possible protection. All five seats have manually adjustable head restraints and three-point seatbelts as standard. Integrated ‘active’ head restraints are standard on both front seats in EX and TX models. During a rear impact, these head restraints move forwards to reduce whiplash injuries to the neck or back. The system is available on LX models as an optional extra.

Every New cee’d hatchback and wagon is equipped with six airbags – dual front airbags, front side airbags and full-length curtain airbags, protecting the occupants in both seat rows – as standard.

All safety systems work together to provide full passenger protection, so simultaneously with an airbag inflation, a signal is relayed to the other airbags and to the seatbelt pre-tensioners, activating them if appropriate. The passenger side front airbag features an on-off switch so it can be deactivated if children occupy that seat.

The rear side doors of cee’d are fitted with child safety locks and two ISOFIX anchor points are fitted in the back row seats for the attachment of child safety seats.

Security and peace of mind

In the modern world, vehicle security is an important aspect of personal safety and New cee’d is comprehensively equipped to resist thieves. Central locking with all-door override is standard on all models, with speed-sensing automatic locking. Keyless entry and an anti-theft alarm and dash-top security lamp are standard on EX and TX models.

Every cee’d engine is fitted with an advanced electronic immobiliser that was developed in tandem with the Thatcham Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre in the UK, and targets a top-level anti-theft protection rating. Every model has a battery saver which switches off any interior or exterior lights that have been left on after the engine has been turned-off, preventing draining of the battery.