GMC SIERRA 1995 Owners Manual

display an error and eject the cartridge. This is normal and is the result of an
added feature
in the tape player that detects broken tapes. If an e.rror occurs,
you
will need to insert the cleaning cassette at least 3 times to thoroughly
clean the tape player.
You may prefer to use
a non-scrubbing action, wet-type cleaner. This type
of cleaner uses
a fabric belt to clean the tape head. This type of cleaner
cassette will
not cause an error, but it may not clean the tape player as
thoroughly as the scrubbing type cleaner.
A scrubbing action cleaner cassette is available through your retailer (SPO
# 12344600).
Cassettes are subject to wear and the sound quality may degrade over time.
Always verify that the cassette tape is
in good condition and the tape player
is clean before obtaining service on your tape player.
NOTICE:
Cassette tape adapter kits for portable CD players will not work
in your cassette player. These adapters
will cause the radio to
display an error and the adapter cassette
will be ejected.
Care of Compact Discs
Handle discs carefully. Store them in their original cases or other protective
cases and away from direct sunlight and dust. If the surface
of a disc is
soiled, dampen
a clean, soft cloth in a mild, neutral detergent solution and
clean
it, wiping from the center to the edge.
Be sure never to touch the signal surface when handling discs. Pick up discs
by grasping the outer edges or the edge of the hole and the outer edge.
Fixed Mast Antenna
The fixed mast antenna can withstand most car washes without be.ing
damaged.
If the mast should ever become slightly bent, you can straighten it
out by hand. If the mast is badly bent, as it might be by vandals, you should
rep1 ace it.
Check every once
in a while to be sure the mast is still tightened to the
fender.
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Notes
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Notes
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Notes
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Your Driving and the Road
Section
n A
Here you'll find information about driving on different kinds of roads and in
varying weather conditions. We've
also included many other useful tips on
driving.
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive defensively.
Please start
with a very important safety device in your vehicle: Buckle up.
(See "Safety Belts"
in the Index.)
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.
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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.
Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a national tragedy.
It’s the number one contributor to the highway death toll, claiming
thousands of victims every year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive
a vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
Vision
Attentiveness
Police records show that almost half
of all motor vehicle-related deaths
involve alcohol. In most cases, these deaths are the result
of someone who
was drinking and driving. In recent years, some
18,000 annual motor
vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the use of alcohol, with
more than
300,000 people injured.
Many adults
- by some estimates, nearly half the adult population -
choose never to drink alcohol, so they never drive after drinking. For
persons under
2 I, it’s against the law in every U.S. state to drink alcohol.
There are good medical, psychological and developmental reasons for these
laws.
The obvious way to solve this highway safety problem
is for people never to
drink alcohol and then drive. But what if people do‘? How much is “too
much” if the driver plans to drive? It’s
a lot less than many might think.
Although
it depends on each person and situation, here is some general
information on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)
of someone who is drinking
depends upon four things:
How much alcohol consumed
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
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According to the American Medical Association, a 180-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 three 4-ounce (120
ml) glasses of wine or three mixed
drinks if each had 1-1/2 ounces (45 ml)
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 somewhat lower
BAC level.
There is a gender difference, too. Women generally have a lower relative
percentage of body water than men. Since alcohol is carried in body water,
this means that a woman generally will reach a higher BAC level than a
man of her same body weight when each has the same number
of drinks.
The law in many
U.S. states sets the legal limit at a BAC of 0.10 percent. In
a growing number
of U.S. states, and throughout Canada, the limit is 0.08
percent. In some other countries it’s even lower. The BAC limit for all
commercial drivers in the
U.S. is 0.04 percent.
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 the ability to drive
is affected well below a BAC of 0.10 percent.
Research shows that the driving skills
of many 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. Statisti\
cs show that
the chance of being in a collision increases sharply for drivers who have a
BAC of 0.05 percent or above. A driver with a BAC level
of 0.06 percent
has doubled his or her chance of having a collision. At a BAC level of 0.10
percent, the chance
of this driver having a collision is twelve times greater;
at a level
of 0.15 percent, the chance is twenty-five times greater!
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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. “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 even a
moderate
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, especially injuries to the brain, spinal cQrd or heart.
This means that when anyone who has been drinking
- driver or passenger
- is in a crash, that person’s chance of being killed or permanently disabled
is higher than if the person had not been drinking.
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.
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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.
Braking
Braking action involves perception tinze 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 reuction tinze is about 3/4 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 3/4 of a
second, a vehicle moving at 60 mph (1 00 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.
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.
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. 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.
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Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your vehicle has an advanced electronic braking system that can help you
keep it under control. When you start your vehicle and begin to drive away,
you may hear a momentary motor or clicking noise. This is the
ABS system
testing itself.
Here's how anti-lock works. Let's say the road is wet. You're driving safely.
Suddenly an animal jumps out
in front of you.
You slam on the brakes. Here's what happens with ABS.
A computer senses that wheels are slowing down. If one of the wheels is
about
to stop rolling, the computer will separately work the brakes at each
front wheel and at the rear wheels. The anti-lock system can change the
brake pressure faster than any driver could. The computer is programmed to
make the most
of available tire and road conditions.
You can steer around the obstacle while braking hard.
As you brake, your computer keeps receiving updates on wheel speed and
controls braking pressure accordingly.
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