PONTIAC BONNEVILLE 1993 Owners Manual

Your Driving and the Road
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about
driving is: Drive defensively.
Please
start with a very important safety
device in your Pontiac: Buckle up. (See
the
Index under Safev Belts.)
Defensive driving really means “be
ready for anything.” On city streets,
rural roads, or freeways, it means
“always expect the unexpected.”
Assume that pedestrians or other drivers
are going to be careless and make
mistakes. Anticipate what they might
do. Be ready for their mistakes.
Expect children to dash out from behind
parked cars, often followed by other
children. Expect occupants in parked
cars to open doors into traffic. Watch for
movement in parked cars-someone
may be about to open a door. Expect other
drivers to
run stop signs
when you are on a through street. Be
ready to brake if necessary as you go
through intersections. You may not have
to use the brake, but if you do, you will
be ready.
If you’re driving through a shopping
center parking lot where there are well-
marked lanes, directional arrows, and
designated parking areas, expect some
drivers to ignore all these markings and
dash straight toward one part of the lot.
Pedestrians can be careless. Watch for
them. In general, you must give way to
pedestrians even if you know you have
the right of way.
Rear-end collisions are about the most
preventable of accidents. Yet they are
common. Allow enough following distance. It’s the best defensive driving
maneuver, in both city and rural
driving. You never
know when the
vehicle in front of you is going to brake
or turn suddenly.
Here’s a final bit of information about
defensive driving. The most dangerous
time for driving in the
U.S. is very early
on Sunday morning.
In fact, GM
Research studies show that the most and
the least dangerous times for driving, every week, fall on the same day. That
day is Sunday. The most dangerous time
is Sunday from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. The
safest time is Sunday from
10 a.m. to
11 a.m. Driving the same distance on a
Sunday at
3 a.m. isn’t just a little more
dangerous than it is at
10 a.m. It’s about
134 times more dangerous!
That leads to the next section.
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Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with
drinking and driving is a national
tragedy. It’s the number one contributor
to the highwizy death toll, claiming
thousands of victims every year.
Alcohol takes away three things that
anyone needs to drive a vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
Vision
Police records show that half of all
motor vehicle-related deaths involve
alcohol-a driver,
a passenger or
someone else, such
as a pedestrian, had
been drinking. In most cases, these
deaths are the result of someone
who
was drinking and driving. Over 25,000
motor vehicle-related deaths occur each
year because
o€ alcohol, and thousands
of people are injured. Just
how much alcohol is too much
if a
person plans to drive? Ideally, no one
should drink alcohol and then drive. But
if one does, then what’s ‘900 much”? It
can
be a lot less than many might think.
Although it depends an each person and
situation, here is some general
information
on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Content
(BAC) of
someone who is drinking depends upon
four things:
How much alcohol is in the drink.
The drinker’s body weight.
The amount of food that is consumed
before and during drinking.
The length of time it has taken the
drinker to consume the alcohol. According to
the American Medical
Association,
a 18.O-pound (82 kg) person
who
drinks three 12-ounce (355 ml)
bottles of beer in an hour will end up
with a BAC of about 0.06 percent. The
person would reach the same
BAC by
drinking thee 4-ounce
(120 ml) glasses
of wine or three mixed drinks if each
had
1% ounces (45 rnl) of a liquor like
whiskey, gin or vodka.
It’s the amount
of alcohol that counts.
For example, if the
same person drank
three double martinis
(3 ounces or
90 ml of liquor each) within an hour,
the person’s
BAC would be close to
0.12 percent. A person who consumes
food just before or during drinking will
have
a slightly lower BAC level.
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Your Driving and the Road
II
Drunken Driving (CONK)
The law in most U.S. states sets the
legal limit at a BAC
of 0.10 percent. In
Canada the limit is
0.08 percent, and in
some other countries it’s lower than
that. The BAC will be over
0.10 percent
after three to six drinks (in one hour).
Of course, as we’ve seen, it depends on
how much alcohol is in the drinks, and
how quickly the person drinks them.
But it’s very important to keep in mind
that the ability
to drive is affected well
below a BAC
of 0.10 percent. Research
shows that the driving
skills of many
V
people are impaired at a BAC
approaching
0.05 percent, and that the
effects are worse at night. All drivers
are impaired at BAC levels above
0.05
percent. Statistics show that the chance
of being in an accident increases sharply
for drivers who have a BAC
of 0.05
percent or above. A driver with a BAC
level
of 0.06 percent (three beers in one
hour for a 180-pound or
82 kg person)
has doubled his or her chance
of having
an accident. At a BAC level
of 0.10
percent, the chance of that driver having
an accident
is six times greater; at a
level of 0.15 percent, the chances are
twenty-five times greater! And, the body takes about an hour to rid itself
of
the alcohol in one drink. No amount of
coffee or number
of cold showers will
speed that up.
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“I’ll be careful” isn’t the right answer.
What if there’s an emergency, a need
to
take sudden action, as when a child
darts into the street?
A person with a
higher
BAC might not be able to react
quickly enough to avoid
the collision.
There’s something else about drinking
and driving that many people don’t
know. Medical research shows that
alcohol
in a person’s system can make
crash injuries worse. That’s especially
true for brain, spinal cord and heart injuries. That means that if anyone who
has been drinking-driver or
passenger-is
in a crash, the chance of
being killed or permanently disabled is
higher than if that person had not been
drinking. And we’ve already seen that the
chance of a crash itself is higher for
drinking drivers.
’ Drinking and then driving is
very dangerous. Your reflexes,
perceptions, and judgment will be
affected by even a small amount
of
alcohol. You could have a
serious-or even fatal-accident
if
you drive after drinking. Please
don’t drink and drive or ride with a
driver who has been drinking.
Ride home in a cab; or
if you’re
with a group, designate a driver
who will not drink.
Control of a Vehicle
You have three systems that make your
vehicle
go where you want it to go.
They are the brakes, the steering and the
accelerator. All three systems have
to do
their work at the places where the tires
meet the road.
Sometimes, as when you’re driving
on
snow or ice, it’s easy to ask more of
those control systems than the tires and
road can provide. That means you can
lose control
of your vehicle.
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88I
C
Your Driving and the Road
Braking
Braking action involves perception time
and reaction time.
First, you have to decide to push on the
brake pedal. That’s
perception time.
Then you have to bring up your foot and
do it. That’s
reaction time.
Average reaction time is about %i of a
second. But that’s only an average. It
might be less with one driver and as
long as two or three seconds or more
with another. Age, physical condition,
alertness, coordination, and eyesight all
play a part.
So do alcohol, drugs and
frustration. But even in
% of a second, a
vehicle moving at
60 mph (100 km/h)
travels
66 feet (20 m). That could be a
lot of distance in an emergency, so
keeping enough space between your
vehicle and others is important.
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b V
And, of course, actual stopping
distances vary greatly with the surface
of the road (whether it’s pavement
or
gravel); the condition of the road (wet,
dry, icy); tire tread; and the condition
of
your brakes.
Most drivers treat their brakes with
care. Some, however, overwork the
braking system with poor driving habits.
Avoid needless heavy braking. Some
people drive
in spurts-heavy
acceleration followed by heavy
braking-rather than keeping pace with traffic. This is a mistake. Your
brakes may not have time to cool
between hard stops. Your brakes will
wear out much faster if you do-a lot of
heavy braking.
_,. 1: <., . ~ -< , , ,,I ,
Don’t “ride” the brakes by letting your
left foot rest lightly
on the brake pedal
while driving.
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“Riding” your brakes can
1 cause them to overheat to the
point that they won’t work well.
You might not be able to stop your
vehicle in time to avoid an
accident. If you “ride” your
brakes, they will get so hot they
will require a lot of pedal force to
sIow you down. Avoid “riding” the
brakes.
’
I NOTICE I
“Riding” the brakes wears them
out much faster. You would need
costly brake replacement much sooner than normal, and
it also
reduces fuel economy.
!
If you keep pace with the traffic and
allow realistic following distances, you
will eliminate a lot
of unnecessary
braking. That means better braking and
longer brake life.
If your engine ever stops while you’re
driving, brake normally but don’t
pump your brakes. If you do,
the pedal
may get harder to push down.
If your
engine stops, you will still have some
power brake assist. But
you will use it
when you brake. Once the power
assist is used up,
it may take longer to
stop and the brake pedal will be
harder to push.
Anti-Lock Brakes
Your Pontiac has an advanced electronic
braking system that will help prevent
skidding.
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Your Driving and the Road
4nti-Lock Brakes (CONT.)
rhis light on the instrument panel will
;o on when you start your vehicle. See
he
Index under Anti-Lock Bruke System
iVarning Light.
-Iere's how anti-lock works. Let's say
he road is wet. You're driving safely.
Suddenly an animal jumps out in front
Y'ou slam on the brakes. Here's what
lappens with
ABS.
4 computer senses that wheels are
;lowing down. The computer separately
works the brakes at each front wheel
md at the rear wheels.
The anti-lock system can change the
)rake pressure faster than any driver
:ould.
The computer is programmed to
nake the most
of available tire and road
:onditions.
>f you.
'ou can steer around the obstacle while
raking hard.
As you brake, your
omputer keeps receiving updates on
{heel speed and controls braking
ressure accordingly.
1
A *,nti-lock doesn't change the
- --me you need to get your foot
up
to the brake pedal. If you get
too close to the vehicle
in front of
you, you won't have time to apply
your brakes
if that vehicle suddenly
slows
or stops. Always leave enough
room up ahead to
stop, even though
you have anti-lock brakes.
mmm 156
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To Use Anti-Lock: Don't pump the
brakes. Just hold the brake pedal down
and let anti-lock work for you.
When you
start your vehicle and begin
to drive away, you may hear a
momentary motor
or clicking noise and
you may even notice that your brake
pedal
moves a little while this is going
on. This is the
ABS system testing itself.
You also may hear this during a hard
stop.
I--
Tiction Control (omm)
Your vehicle may have a traction control
system that limits wheel spin. This is
especially useful in slippery road
conditions. The tractidn control system
works at low speeds only, such as when
you accelerate from a stop. It applies
brake pressure
to an individual wheel
that the system senses is about to spin.
You may feel the system working, or you
may notice some noise, but. this is
normal.
A TRACTION OFF warning light in
the instrument cluster lets you know if
your traction control system
is not
working. See the
Index under Traction
Control
System Warning Light.
To turn the system off, press the
TRACTION CONTROL switch on the
center console while the vehicle is
stopped. The
TRACTION OFF
warning light will come on and stay on.
To turn the system back on, bring the
vehicle to a stop and press the switch
again. The warning light should
go off.
The system will also
turn itself on if you
turn your ignition off and back on again.
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Your Driving and the Road
Disc Brake Wear Indicators
Your Pontiac has front disc brakes and
rear drum brakes. Disc brake pads have
built-in wear indicators that make a
high-pitched warning sound when the
brake pads
are worn and new pads are
needed. The sound may come and go or
be heard all the time your vehicle is
moving (except when you are pushing
on the brake pedal
firmly).
I bAU I IUIV
Continuing to drive with worn-out
brake
pads could result in costly
brake
repair. I
Some driving conditions or climates
may cause a brake squeal when the
brakes
are first applied or lightly
applied. This does
not mean something
is wrong with your brakes.
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Rear Drum Brakes
Your rear drum brakes don’t have wear
indicators, but
if you ever hear a rear
brake rubbing noise, have the rear brake
linings inspected. Also, the rear brake drums should be removed and inspected
each time the tires are removed for
rotation or changing. When you have the
front brakes replaced, have the rear
brakes inspected, too.
Brake linings should always be replaced as complete axle sets.
Brake Pedal Travel
See your dealer if the brake pedal does
not return to normal height, or if there
is a rapid increase in pedal travel. This
could be a sign of brake trouble.
Brake Adjustment
Every time you make a moderate brake
stop, your brakes adjust for wear. If you
rarely make a moderate or heavier stop,
then your brakes might not adjust
correctly. If you drive in that way,
then-very carefully-make a few
moderate brake stops about every
1,000
miles (1 600 km), so your brakes will
adjust properly.
Braking In Emergencies
Use your anti-lock braking system when
you need to. With anti-lock, you can
steer and brake at the same time. In
many emergencies, steering can help
you more than even the very best
braking.
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