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2019 Kia Forte revealed | Bigger interior, Stinger-ish styling and 35 mpg

Even though it was updated for the 2017 model year, Kia has decided the time is right to completely redesign the Forte compact sedan. And the end result is a generally handsome car that looks more exciting in some ways, but less so in others. The front of the car is easily the highlight. It pulls from the sensational Stinger for its angrier headlights with aggressive "X" motifs, along with big side intakes and a more shapely grille. The lower grille is very wide and looks menacing in black. Some added creases to the hood and fenders also provide a muscular look absent on the rounded current model. What's disappointing is that the Forte's sides are rather boring. The only visual interest in the slab flanks are the soft shoulder line under the windows, and a crease at the bottom. Even the window line is a simple straight line, unlike the line on the current model that plunges low at the front and sweeps up to the back. Fortunately the tail brings back a modicum of style with nicely detailed lights, complete with a full-width section, and a nicely flared out rear bumper. The new Forte is also a bit larger than the old model. It's 3.2 inches longer, and 0.7 inch wider. Kia says this provides the Forte with more passenger space and cargo space. Specifically, the trunk is 15.1 cubic feet, which is 0.2 cubic foot larger than the current model. Kia hasn't announced whether a hatchback will be offered with this new generation. Besides the extra space, the Forte's interior is much more attractive than the monochrome cocoon of the current model. It has more contrast in materials and colors, and a trim, wide-looking dashboard. It also features a standard 8-inch touch screen infotainment system. Wireless charging, a 320-watt Harman Kardon sound system, and some additional driver aids will be available as options. Kia has only revealed one engine for the new Forte. It's a 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder, now featuring a cooled exhaust-gas recirculation system. It makes the same 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque as the current Atkinson-cycle model, but Kia is expecting it to get notably better fuel economy. The final numbers have yet to be revealed, but Kia is targeting 35 mpg combined. For reference, the current Forte economy king is the automatic-equipped Atkinson-cycle car that gets 32 mpg combined, along with 29 mpg city and 37 on the highway.

Nissan, Kia under investigation over occupant detection systems

Kia and Nissan are facing separate investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because of alleged problems with the occupant detection systems in their vehicles' airbags. The larger investigation is NHTSA's new engineering analysis into 986,826 Nissan and Infiniti vehicles. They include the 2013 Nissan NV200 and 2013-2014 Altima, Leaf, Pathfinder, and Sentra. Among the Infinitis, there are the 2013 JX35 and 2014 Q50 and QX60. Owners allege the occupant classification system can misidentify passengers and turn off the airbag if they don't weigh enough. Nissan recalled over a million vehicles worldwide last year to fix the same problem with a software update, but NHTSA kept getting complaints about the issue after the repair. The agency opened a preliminary evaluation in March, and after 1,271 complaints it has now been updated to an engineering analysis. The Feds intend to evaluate the effectiveness of Nissan's solution. NHTSA is also opening a preliminary evaluation into the 2007-2009 Kia Spectra for the occupant classification not working properly, and it could affect an estimated 186,000 of these vehicles. The government agency has 43 complaints from people allegedly reporting the failures. According to NHTSA, the issue could result in the airbag not deploying with enough force or not activating at all in an accident. This investigation is meant to assess the scope of the potential flaw, and there's no recall yet. INVESTIGATION Subject : Occupant Classification System Fault Date Investigation Opened: SEP 01, 2015 Date Investigation Closed: Open NHTSA Action Number: PE15031 Component(s): AIR BAGS All Products Associated with this Investigation Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) KIA SPECTRA 2007-2009 Details Manufacturer: Kia Motors America SUMMARY: The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received 43 complaints alleging a malfunction of the front passenger seat occupant classification system (OCS) in 2007-2009 Kia Spectra vehicles. The complaints report illumination of the SRS (air bag) warning light. All of the complaints allege the cause of the light illumination to be a malfunction of the OCS sensor mat imbedded in the passenger seat cushion, and/or report the presence of diagnostic trouble code B1448 which relates to the OCS sensor mat also. Many of the complaints note the malfunction occurred after the warranty period expired and mention high repair costs as a major deterrent to repairing the vehicle.

Provo concept name has Kia embroiled in terrorism controversy?

In the relatively lengthy press release that Kia composed for the launch of its Provo concept car at the Geneva Motor Show this week, the company never mentioned where the name came from, or what it means for the car. A very basic web search for "Provo" reveals that the inspiration for the hatch could have been a city in Utah, a township in South Dakota or a village in Bosnia. The name could be a reference to either an American (Fred) or Canadian (Dwayne) football player, and Provo might also accurately reference a "Dutch counterculture movement in the mid-1960s" or a ship in the US Navy. More likely than any of those, however, is that the Kia designers of the concept - a car that was wholly a product of the Korean automaker's design studios in Frankfurt, for the record - meant it as a play on the existing Pro_cee'd hatchback.
What the designers and Kia executives that signed off on the Provo almost certainly did not have in mind was a reference to a street name for the Provisional Irish Republican Army. That "Provo" was, according to TheDetroitBureau.com, an outlawed army faction that was blamed for some 2,000 deaths in Northern Ireland during a period stretching from 1970 to 1997.
And yet, it was that association that led Gregory Campbell, a member of parliament from Northern Ireland, to introduce legislation that would ban Kia from selling a car under the name Provo. Kia, quick to realize the sizable gaffe it has stumbled into with the name, has reportedly already promised not to use the name for a production vehicle.