Kia is fixing this annoying safety feature

Kia Australia is following sister company Hyundai in rolling out a shortcut to turn off its audible speed limit warning, off the back of customer feedback.

Speaking with CarExpert, Kia Australia’s general manager for product, Roland Rivero, said an over-the-air (OTA) update has already been applied to the facelifted Sorento and the EV9 electric SUV, with other nameplates to follow.

“Yes, it’s already rolled out as an OTA update on Sorento and EV9. Others to follow either via a Dealer Software Update (for non ccNC) or OTA (ccNC),” Mr Rivero said.

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It’s worth noting only a handful of recent Kia models are fitted with the Overspeed Audible Alert; with the Picanto, Cerato, Stonic, Sportage, EV6, pre-update Sorento and pre-update Carnival all unaffected in Australia.

Other key nameplates that will have these changes applied will include the current Seltos and Niro crossovers.

The fix involves a long press of the mute button on the steering wheel to disable the audible speed warnings, though vehicles will retain their visual speed sign information where applicable.

Hyundai first debuted this solution on the facelifted Tucson range earlier this year, and has subsequently been updating various nameplates across its namesake brand’s and Genesis ranges.

It’s understood the audible speed limit warning is mandated in new vehicles in regions like Europe, and is quickly becoming standardised across a number of makes and models globally.

Hyundai Motor Group’s solution has been widely criticised for its incessant beeping and bonging since the updated Kia Seltos arrived in 2022, and since then it has been rolled out to various Hyundai, Kia and Genesis vehicles.

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