dashboard Acura TL 2000 3.2 Owner's Manual

2000 TL Online Reference Owner's Manual
Use these links (and links throughout this manual) to navigate through\
this reference.
For a printed owner's manual, click on authorized manuals or go to www.h\
elminc.com.
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................\
................................................................. i
A Few Words About Safet y........................................................................\
.........................................ii
Driver and Passenger Safety ........................................................................\
..................................... .5
Proper use and care of your vehicle's seat belts, and Supplemental Restr\
aint System.
Instruments and Control s........................................................................\
........................................ .51
Instrument panel indicator and gauge, and how to use dashboard and steering colu\
mn controls.
Comfort and Convenience Features ........................................................................\
..................... 109
How to operate the climate control system, the audio system, and other c\
onvenience features.
Before Driving........................................................................\
..........................................................145
What gasoline to use, how to break-in your new vehicle, and how to load luggage and other cargo.
Driving ........................................................................\
..................................................................... .159
The proper way to start the engine, shift the transmission, and park, pl\
us towing a trailer.
Maintenance........................................................................\
.............................................................187
The Maintenance Schedule shows you when you need to take your vehicle to the dealer.
Appearance Car e........................................................................\
..................................................... .245
Tips on cleaning and protecting your vehicle. Things to look for if your\
vehicle ever needs body repairs.
Taking Care of the Unexpecte d........................................................................\
..............................253
This section covers several problems motorists sometimes experience, a nd how to handle them.
Technical Informatio n........................................................................\
.............................................279
ID numbers, dimensions, capacities, and technical information.
Warranty and Customer Relations (U.S. and Canada)................................................................291
A summary of the warranties covering your new Acura, and how to contact \
us.
Authorized Manu als (U.S. only)........................................................................\
..............................297
How to order manuals and other technical literature.
Index........................................................................\
........................................................................\
...... I
Service Information Summary
A summary of information you need when you pull up to the fuel pump. Owner's Identification Form
Your Vehicle at a Glance........................................................................\
............................................ 2

Your Car's Safety Features
AirbagsYour car has a Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) with front
airbags to help protect the heads and
chests of the driver and a front seat
passenger during a moderate to severe frontal collision. Your car also has side airbags to help
protect the upper torso of the driveror a front seat passenger during a
moderate to severe side impact.
The most important things you need to know about your airbags are:
• Airbags do not replace seat belts. They are designed to supplementthe seat belts. • Airbags offer no protection in rear
impacts, rollovers, or minor
frontal or side collisions.
• Airbags can pose serious hazards. To do their job, airbags mustinflate with tremendous force andspeed. So while airbags help save
lives, they can cause minor injuries, or more serious or even fatal
injuries if occupants are not
properly restrained or sitting
properly.
What you should do: Always wear your seat belt properly, and sit
upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel or dashboard.
Driver and Passenger Safety

Your Car's Safety Features
Seats & Seat-Backs
Your car's seats are designed to keep
you in a comfortable, uprightposition so you can take fulladvantage of the protection offered
by seat belts and the energy absorbing materials in the seats.
How you adjust your seats and seat-
backs can also affect your safety. For
example, sitting too close to the
steering wheel or dashboard
increases the risk of you or your
passenger being injured by striking
the inside of the car, or by an inflating airbag.
Reclining a seat-back too far reduces
the seat belt's effectiveness and
increases the chance that the seat's occupant will slide under the seat
belt in a crash and be seriously
injured. What you should do: Move the front
seats as far back as possible, and
keep adjustable seat-backs in an
upright position whenever the car is
moving. Head Restraints
Head restraints can help protect you
from whiplash and other injuries. For maximum protection, the back of
your head should rest against the center of the head restraint.
Door Locks
Keeping your doors locked reduces
the chance of being thrown out of
the car during a crash. It also helps
prevent occupants from accidentally opening a door and falling out, and
outsiders from unexpectedly opening
your doors.
Driver and Passenger Safety

Your Car's Safety Features
Pre-Drive Safety Checklist
To make sure you and your passengers get the maximum
protection from your car's safety
features, check the following each
time before you drive away:
• All adults, and children who have outgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and
wearing them properly (see page
15).
• Any infant or small child is properly restrained in a child seatin the back seat (see page 20). • Front seat occupants are sitting
upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel and dashboard (see page 12).
• Seat-backs are upright (see page 13).
• Head restraints are properly adjusted (see page 14).
• All doors are closed and locked (see page 12).
• All cargo is properly stored or secured (see page 155). The rest of this section gives more
detailed information about how you
can maximize your safety.
Remember, however, that no safety system can prevent all injuries or
deaths that can occur in severe
crashes, even when seat belts are
properly worn and the airbags deploy.
Driver and Passenger Safety

Protecting Adults
To reduce the chance of injury, wearyour seat belt properly, sit upright
with your back against the seat, and
move the seat as far back as possible
from the steering wheel while stillmaintaining full control of the car.
Also make sure your front seat passenger moves the seat as far to
the rear as possible.
Sitting too close to a front
airbag can result in seriousinjury or death if the front
airbags inflate.
Always sit as far back from the
front airbags as possible. Most shorter drivers can get far
enough away from the steering
wheel and still reach the pedals. However, if you are concerned about
sitting too close, we recommend that
you investigate whether some type of adaptive equipment may help.
Once your seat is adjusted correctly,
rock it back and forth to make sure
the seat is locked in position.
See page 89 for how to adjust the
front seats.
3.Adjust the Seat-Backs
Adjust the driver's seat-back to a comfortable, upright position,
leaving ample space between your chest and the airbag cover in the
center of the steering wheel. If yousit too close to the steering wheel,
you could be injured if the front airbag inflates. A front passenger should also adjust
the seat-back to an upright position,
but as far from the dashboard as
possible. A passenger who sits tooclose to the dashboard could be
injured if the front airbag inflates.
CONTINUED
Driver and Passenger Safety

Protecting Adults
Remember, to get the best
protection from your car's airbags and other safety features, you mustsit properly and wear your seat belt
properly. Advice for Pregnant Women
Because protecting the mother is the
best way to protect her unborn child, a pregnant woman should always
wear a seat belt whenever she drives or rides in a car.
Remember to keep the lap portion of
the belt as low as possible across
your hips. Pregnant women should also sit
upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel or dashboard. This will reduce the risk
of injuries to both the mother and
her unborn child that can be caused
by a crash or an inflating airbag.
Each time you have a check-up, ask
your doctor if it's okay for you to drive.
Driver and Passenger Safety

Protecting Adults
Additional Safety Precautions
• Two people should never use thesame seat belt. If they do, they
could be very seriously injured in a
•
Do not put any accessories on seat
belts. Devices intended to improve occupant comfort or reposition the
shoulder part of a seat belt can
severely compromise the
protective capability of the seat
belt and increase the chance of serious injury in a crash.
• Do not place hard or sharp objects
between yourself and a front
airbag. Carrying hard or sharp
objects on your lap, or driving with
a pipe or other sharp object in
your mouth, can result in injuries if your front airbag inflates.
• Do not attach or place objects on
the front airbag covers. Any object
attached to or placed on the covers
marked "SRS AIRBAG," in the
center of the steering wheel and on top of the dashboard could
interfere with the proper operation of the airbags. Or, if the airbags
inflate, the objects could be
propelled inside the car and hurt someone. • Do not attach hard objects on or
near a front door. If a side airbag
inflates, a cup holder or other hard object attached on or near the
door could be propelled inside the
car and hurt someone.
• Keep your hands and arms away from the airbag covers. If your
hands or arms are close to the airbag cover in the center of thesteering wheel or on top of the
dashboard, they could be injured if
the front airbags inflate.
Driver and Passenger Safety
crash.

Protecting Children
U.S. Models
To remind you of the passenger's front airbag hazards, and thatchildren must be properly restrained
in the back seat, your car has
warning labels on the dashboard and on the driver's and front passenger's
visors. Please read and follow the instructions on these labels.
DEATH or SERIOUS INJURY can occur• Children 12 and under can be killed by the air bag• The BACK SEAT is the SAFEST place for children• NEVER put a rear-facing child seat in the front• Sit as far back as possible from the air bag• ALWAYS use SEAT BELTS and CHILD RESTRAINTS
WARNING
Canadian Models
To remind you of the front airbaghazards, your car has warning labelson the driver's and front passenger's
visors. Please read and follow the instructions on these labels.
CAUTIONTO AVOID SERIOUS INJURY:
• FOR MAXIMUM SAFETY PROTECTION IN ALL TYPES OF CRASHES, YOU MUST
ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SAFETY BELT.
• DO NOT INSTALL REARWARD-FACING CHILD SEATS IN ANY FRONTPASSENGER SEAT POSITION.
• DO NOT SIT OR LEAN UNNECESSARILY CLOSE TO THE AIR BAG.
•
DO NOT PLACE ANY OBJECTS OVER THEAIR BAG OR BETWEEN THE AIR BAG
AND YOURSELF.
•
SEE THE OWNER'S MANUAL FOR FURTHERINFORMATION AND EXPLANATIONS.
PRECAUTION:POUR EVITER DES BLESSURES GRAVES:
• POUR PROFITER DUNE PROTECTION MAXIMALE LORS D'UNE COLLISION BOUCLEZ
TOUJOURS VOTRE CEINTURE DE SECURITE.
• NINSTALLEZ JAMAIS UN SIEGE POUR ENFANTS FAISANT FACE A L ARRIERE SUR
LE SIEGE DU PASSAGER AVANT.
•
NE VOUS APPUYEZ PAS ET NE VOUS ASSEYEZPAS PRES DU COUSSIN GONFLABLE.
• NE DEPOSEZ AUCUN OBJET SUR LE COUSSINGONFLABLE OU ENTRE LE COUSSIN
GONFLABLE ET VOUS.
• LISEZ LE GUIDE UTILISATEUR POUR DE PLUS AMPLES RENSEIGNEMENTS.
Driver and Passenger Safety
Children Can Be KILLED or INJURED
by Passenger Air Bag
The back seat is the safest place for children 12 and under.
Make sure all children use seat belts or child seats.
WARNING

Protecting Children
Rear-Facing Child Seat Installation
Tips
For proper protection, an infant must
ride in a reclined, or semi-reclined
position. To determine the proper
reclining angle, check with the baby's doctor or follow the seat maker's
recommendations.
To achieve the desired reclining angle, it may help to put a rolled up
towel under the toe of the child seat, as shown. When properly installed, a rear-
facing child seat may prevent the driver or a front-seat passenger from
moving the seat as far back as
recommended (see page 12). Or it may prevent them from locking the seat-back in the desired upright
position (see page 13).
In either case, we recommend that
you place the child seat directly behind the front passenger seat,move the front seat as far forward as
needed, and leave it unoccupied. Or
you may wish to get a smaller child seat that allows you to safely carry a
front passenger. Additional Precautions for Infants
• Never hold an infant on your lap.
If you are not wearing a seat belt
in a crash, you could be thrown
forward into the dashboard and crush the infant.
If you are wearing a seat belt, theinfant can be torn from your arms
during a crash. For example, if
your car crashes into a parked
vehicle at 30 mph (48 km/h), a 20-lb (9 kg) infant will become a
600-lb (275 kg) force, and you will
not be able to hold on.
• Never put a seat belt over yourself and an infant. During a crash, the
belt could press deep into the
infant and cause very serious
injuries.
Driver and Passenger Safety

Protecting Children
Additional Precautions for Small
Children
• Never hold a small child on your
lap. If you are not wearing a seat
belt in a crash, you could be
thrown forward into the dashboard and crush the child.
If you are wearing a seat belt, the
child can be torn from your arms
during a crash. For example, if
your car crashes into a parked
vehicle at 30 mph (48 km/h), a 30-lb (14 kg) child will become a
900-lb (410 kg) force, and you will
not be able to hold on.
• Never put a seat belt over yourself
and a child. During a crash, the
belt could press deep into the child and cause very serious injuries. Protecting Larger Children
When a child reaches the recommended weight or height limit
for a forward-facing child seat, the child should sit in the back seat and
wear a lap/shoulder belt.
If a child is too short for the shoulder
part of the belt to properly fit, we
recommend that the child use a
booster seat until they are tallenough to use the seat belt without a
booster.
The following pages give instructions on how to check properseat belt fit, what kind of booster
seat to use if one is needed, and
important precautions for children
who must sit in the front seat. Allowing a larger child to sit
improperly in the front seat can
result in injury or death if the
passenger's front airbag inflates.
If a larger child must sit in front,
make sure the child moves the
seat as far back as possible
and wears the seat belt properly.
CONTINUED
Driver and Passenger Safety