Recently I was driving through Bakewell town centre. A lorry was coming towards me with ample room for both of us. It was mid-afternoon but wet. As I neared a T-junction, a car approached, clearly preparing, and able, to stop at the ‘give way’ line. I was doing 20-25mph, my foot on neither pedal, in zero-regen mode in a Kia EV9, in my lane. There was no impending drama; it was the kind of scenario you find in any town, on any day.
We like the company’s cars a great deal , but they do have some of the market’s most intrusive – let’s use air quotes – ‘advanced’ driver assistance systems. It is not Kia’s fault the EV9 has so many. The EU and Euro NCAP insist on them while surely by now knowing they are not consistently reliable. The argument is that the intention is good, and that no harm – as here – should come from a car stopping, and that mostly it will get the calls right.