light OLDSMOBILE AURORA 1995 Workshop Manual

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 fdster 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.
Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your Aurora has an advanced electronic braking system
that
will help prevent a braking skid.
ANT’- (I)
LOCK
This light on the
instrument panel
will
come on briefly when
you start your vehicle.
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.
If there’s a problem with the anti-lock brake
system, the anti-lock brake system warning light will
stay
on.
See “Anti-Lock Brake System Warning Light“ in the
Index.
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Remember: Anti-lock doesn't change the time 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 01-
stops. Always leave enough 1-0om up ahead to stop. even
though you have anti-lock brakes.
To Use Anti-Lock
Don't pump the brakes. Just hold the brake pedal down
and let anti-lock work for you. You may hear
a motor or
clicking noise during a hard stop. but this is normal.
Traction Control System
Your vehicle has a traction control system that limits
wheel spin. This is especially useful
in slippery road
conditions. The system operates only
if it senses that one
or both of the front wheels are spinning or beginning to
lose traction. When this happens, the system works the
front brakes and reduces engine power (by shutting off
fuel injectors and managing engine spark) to
limit wheel
spin.
The TRACTION ACTIVE light will come on when
your traction control system
is limiting wheel spin. See
"Traction Control System Active Light"
in the Index.
You may feel the system working, or you may notice
some noise, but this is normal.
If yo~~r vehicle is in
cruise control when the traction control system begins to
limit wheel spin, the cruise control will automatically
disengage. When road conditions allow you to safely
use
it again, you may re-engage the cruise control. (See
"Cruise Control"
in the Index.)
TRACTION
OFF
When the system is on, the TRACTION OFF warning
light
will come on to let you know if there's a problem
with your traction control system. See "Traction Control
System Warning Light"
in the Index. When this warning
light is on, the system
will not limit wheel spin. Adjust
your driving accordingly.
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The traction control system automatically comes on
whenever
you start your vehicle. To limit wheel spin,
especially
in slippery road conditions, you should
always leave the system on. But you can turn the
traction control system off
if you ever need to. (You
should
turn the system off if your vehicle ever gets stuck
in sand, mud, ice or snow. See “Rocking Your Vehicle”
in the Index.)
I ‘ -I
To turn the system off,
press the TRACTION
CONTROL button on
the center console. The
TRACTION
OFF warning light will come on and
stay on.
If the system is limiting wheel spin when you
press the button,
the system won’t turn off right away. It
will wait until there’s no longer a current need to limit
wheel spin.
You can
turn the system back on at any time by pressing
the button again. The TRACTION
OFF warning light
should go
off.
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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Steering in Emergencies
There are times when steering can be more effective
than braking. For example, you come over
a hill and
find a truck stopped in your lane, or a car suddenly pulls
out from nowhere, or a child darts out from between
parked cars and stops right
in front of you. You can
avoid these problems by braking
-- if you can stop in
time. But sometimes you can't; there isn't room. That's
the time for evasive action
-- steering around the
problem.
Your Aurora can perform very well
in emergencies like
these. First apply your brakes.
It is better to remove as
much speed
as you can from a possible collision. Then
steer around the problem,
to the left or right depending
on the space available.
An emergency like this requires close attention and a
quick decision.
If you are holding the steering wheel at
the recommended
9 and 3 o'clock positions, you can
turn it a full I80 degrees very quickly without removing
either hand.
But you have to act fast, steer quickly, and
just
as quickly straighten the wheel once you have
avoided the object.
The fact that s11ch emergency situations are always
possible
is a good reason to practice defensive driving at
all times and wear safety belts properly.
Off-Road Recovery
You may find sometime that your right wheels have
dropped off the edge
of a road onto the shoulder while
you're driving.
If the level of the shoulder is only slightly below the
pavement, recovery should be fairly easy. Ease off the
accelerator and then,
if there is nothing in the way, steer
so that your vehicle straddles the edge of the pavement.
You can
turn the steering wheel up to 1/4 turn until the
right front tire contacts the pavement edge. Then turn
your steering wheel
to go straight down the roadway.
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0 Check your mirrors, glance over your shoulder, and
start your left lane change signal before moving out
of the right lane
to pass. When you are far enough
ahead of
the passed vehicle to see its front in your
inside mirror, activate your right lane change signal
and move back into the right lane. (Remember that
your right outside mirror is convex. The vehicle you
just passed
may seem to be farther away from you
than it really is.)
0 Try not to pass more than one vehicle at a time on
two-lane roads. Reconsider before passing the
next
vehicle.
Don’t overtake a slowly moving vehicle too rapidly.
Even though the brake lights are
not flashing, it may
be slowing down or starting to turn.
0 If you’re being passed, make it easy for the
following driver to get ahead
of you. Perhaps you
can ease a little to the right.
Loss of Control
Let’s review what driving experts say about what
happens when
the three control systems (brakes, steering
and acceleration) don‘t have enough friction where the
tires meet the road to do what the driver has asked.
In any emergency, don’t give up. Keep trying to steer
and constantly seek an escape route or area
of less
danger.
Skidding
In a skid, a driver can lose control of the vehicle.
Defensive drivers avoid most skids by taking reasonable
care suited to existing conditions, and by not
“overdriving” those conditions. But skids are always
possible.
The three types
of skids correspond to your Aurora‘s
three control systems.
In the braking skid your wheels
aren’t rolling.
In the steering or cornering skid, too
much speed or steering in a curve causes tires to slip and
lose cornering force. And in the acceleration skid too
much throttle causes
the driving wheels to spin.
A cornering skid is best handled by easing your foot off
the accelerator pedal.
Remember:
Any traction control system helps avoid
only the acceleration skid.
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Here are some tips on night driving.
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Drive defensively.
Don't drink and drive.
Adjust your inside rearview mirror
to reduce the
b 4are from headlalmps behind you.
Since you can't see as well,
you may need to slow
down and keep more space between
you and other
vehicles.
Slow down, especially on higher speed roads. Your
headlamps can light up only
so much road ahead.
In remote areas, watch for animals.
If you're tired, pull
off the road in a safe place and
rest.
Night Vision
No one can see as well at night as in the daytime. But as
we get older these differences increase.
A SO-year-old
driver may require at least twice
as much light to see the
same thing at night as a 20-year-old.
What you do
in the daytime can also affect your night
vision. For example, if you spend the day in bright
sunshine
you are wise to wear sunglasses. Your eyes will
have less trouble adjusting to night.
But if you're
driving, don't wear sunglasses at night. They may cut
down on glare from headlamps, but they
also make a lot
of things invisible.
You can be temporarily blinded by approaching lights.
It
can take a second or two, or even several seconds, for
your eyes to readjust to the dark. When you are faced
with severe glare (as from a driver who cloesn't lower
the high beams.
or a vehicle with misaimed headlamps),
slow down
a little. Avoid staring directly into the
approaching lights.
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Keep your windshield and all the glass on your vehicle
clean
-- inside and out. Glare at night is made much
worse by dirt
on the glass. Even the inside of the glass
can build up a film caused by dust. Dirty glass makes
lights dazzle and flash more than clean glass would,
making the pupils
of your eyes contract repeatedly.
Remember that your headlamps light up f’ar less of a
roadway when you are
in a turn or curve. Keep your
eyes moving; that way, it’s easier to pick out dimly
lighted objects. Just as your headlamps should be
checked regularly for proper aim,
so should your eyes
be examined regularly. Some drivers suffer
from night
blindness
-- the inability to see in dim light -- and aren’t
even aware
of it.
Driving in the Rain
Rain and wet roads can mean driving trouble. On a wet
road you can’t
stop, accelerate or turn as well because
your tire-to-road traction isn’t
as good as on dry roads.
And,
if your tires don‘t have lnuch tread left, you’ll get
even
less traction. It’s always wise to go slower and be
cautious if-’ rain starts to fall while you are driving. The
surfice may
get wet suddenly when your reflexes are
tuned for driving
on dry pavement.
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Here are ways to increase your safety in city driving:
0 Know the best way to get to where you are going.
Get a city map and plan your trip into an unknown
part
of the city just as you would for a cross-country
trip.
0 Try to use the freeways that rim and crisscross most
large cities. You’ll save time and energy. (See the
next part, “Freeway Driving.”)
0 Treat a green light as a warning signal. A traffic light
is there because the corner is busy enough to need it.
When a light turns green, and just before you start to
move, check both ways for vehicles that have not
cleared the intersection or may be running the red
light.
Freeway Driving
Mile for mile, freeways (also called thruways, parkways,
expressways, turnpikes,
or superhighways) are the safest
of all roads. But they have their own special rules.
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The most important advice on freeway driving is: Keep
up with traffic and keep to the right. Drive at the same
speed most of the other drivers are driving. Too-fast
or
too-slow driving breaks a smooth traffic flow. Treat the
left lane on a freeway as a passing lane.
At the entrance there is usually
a ramp that leads to the
freeway. If you have a clear view of the freeway as you
drive along the entrance ramp,
you should begin to
check traffic. Try
to determine where you expect to
blend with the flow. Try to merge into the gap at close to
the prevailing speed. Switch on your turn signal, check
your mirrors and glance over
your shoulder as often as
necessary. Try to blend smoothly with
the traffic flow.
Once you are on the freeway, adjust your speed
to the
posted limit or to the prevailing rate if it’s slower. Stay
in the right lane unless you want
to pass.
Before changing lanes, check your mirrors. Then use
your turn signal.
Just before you leave the lane, glance quickly over
your
shoulder to make sure there isn’t another vehicle in your
“blind” spot.
Once you are moving on
the freeway, make certain you
allow a reasonable following distance. Expect to move
slightly slower at
night.
When you want to leave the freeway, move to the proper
lane well
in advance. If you miss your exit do not, under
any circumstances, stop and back up. Drive on to the
next exit.
The exit ramp can be curved, sometimes quite sharply.
The exit speed is usually posted.
Reduce your speed according to your speedometer,
not
to your sense of motion. After driving for any distance
at higher speeds, you may tend
to think you are going
slower than
you actually are.
Before Leaving on a Long Trip
Make sure you’re ready. Try to be well rested. If you
must start when you’re not fresh -- such as after a day’s
work
-- don’t plan to make too many miles that first part
of the journey. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes you
can easily drive in.
Is your vehicle ready for a long trip? If you keep it
serviced and maintained, it’s ready to go. If it needs
service, have
it done before starting out. Of course,
you’ll find experienced and able service experts at
Aurora retail facilities all across North America. They’ll
be ready and willing to help
if you need it.
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Driving on Snow or Ice
Most of the time, those places where your tires meet the
road probably have
good traction.
Include an ice scraper,
a small brush or broom, a supply
of windshield washer fluid, a rag, some winter outer
clothing,
a small shovel, a flashlight, a red cloth, and a
couple of reflective warning triangles. And, if you will
be driving under severe conditions, include a small bag
of sand, a piece of old carpet or a couple of burlap bags
to help provide traction. Be sure you properly secure
these items
in your vehicle. However,
if there is snow
or ice between your tires and the
road, you can have a very slippery situation. You’ll have
a
lot less traction or ”grip” and will need to be very careful.
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