brake OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE 1998 Owner's Manual

Fuel Gage 0
e‘
E
EB
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United States Canadian
Your fuel gage tells you about how much fuel you have
left, when the ignition
is on. When the gage first
indicates
EMPTY (E), you still have a little fuel left, but
you should get more soon.
After filling the fuel tank, the gage will not read
FULL
(F) until the ignition is turned on.
Here are four things that some owners ask about. None
of these show a problem with your fuel gage:
0 At the service station, the gas pump shuts off before
the gage reads
FULL (F).
a
0
It takes a little more or less fuel to fill up than the gage
indicated, For example, the gage may have indicated
the tank was half full, but it actually took a little more
or less than half the tank’s capacity to
fill the tank.
The gage moves a little when you turn a corner,
brake or speed
up.
The gage doesn’t go back to EMPTY (E) when you
turn
off the ignition.
Low Fuel Warning Light
If your fuel is low, the
warning light next to the
fuel gage will go on and
stay
on until you add fuel.
If the warning light is still on after adding fuel, you need
to reset the warning light.
To reset the warning light,
turn the ignition
to OFF then to ON. If the light stays on,
see your dealer for service.
This light will also come on when
you turn on the
ignition, but the engine is
not running, to show you it is
worlung. If it doesn’t come on as you start your vehicle,
have it fixed right away.
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Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is:
Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in
your Oldsmobile: 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.
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.
Defensive driving requires that a driver concentrate on
the driving task. Anything that distracts from the driving
task
-- such as concentrating on a cellular telephone
call, reading, or reaching for something on the
floor
-- makes proper defensive driving more difficult
and can even cause a collision, with resulting injury.
Ask a passenger to help do things like this, or pull
off
the road in a safe place to do them yourself. These
simple defensive driving techniques could save
your life.
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~ 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.
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 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 (100 kmh) 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; the condition of your brakes; the weight
of the
vehicle and the amount of brake force applied.
I
Sometimes, as when you’re driving on snow or ice, it’s
I 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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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.
Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your vehicle has anti-lock brakes (ABS). ABS is an
advanced electronic braking system that will help
prevent a braking skid.
When you start your engine, or when you begin to drive
away, your anti-lock brake system will check itself. You
may hear
a momentary motor or clicking noise while
this test is going on, and
you may even notice that your
brake pedal moves
a little. (You may also hear a clicking
noise if you leave the ignition in the
RUN position for
about four seconds before starting the vehicle.) This
is normal.
If there’s a problem with the
anti-lock brake system, this
warning light will stay on or
flash. See “Anti-Lock
Brake System Warning
Light’’ in the Index.
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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
both 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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Remember: Anti-lock doesn’t change the time you need
to get your foot up to the brake pedal or always decrease
stopping distance. 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.
Using Anti-Lock
Don’t pump the brakes. Just hold the brake pedal down
firmly and
let anti-lock work for you. You may feel a
slight brake pedal pulsation or notice some noise, but
this is normal.
If your vehicle has the
traction control system, this
LOW light will come on when
your anti-lock system is
help avoid a braking
skid.
TRACTI adjusting brake pressure to
See “Low Traction Light” in the Index.
Traction Control System (If Equipped)
Your vehicle may have 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
to limit wheel spin.
This light will come on
when the traction control
system is limiting wheel
spin. See “Low Traction
Light” in the Index.
LOW
TRACTION
You may feel or hear the system working, but this
is normal.
If your 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
reengage the cruise control. (See “Cruise Control”
in the Index.)
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This light should come
on briefly when you start
the engine.
If it stays
on
or comes on while you
are driving, 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.
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.)
c the TCS symbol on the
C bottom of the button in the
C center console switchbank.
The indicator light on the
traction control button will
c
go off.
-I I
If the system is limiting wheel spin when you press the
button, the indicator light will go
off, but the system will
not turn
off until there is 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 control
system warning light should go
off.
Braking in Emergencies
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 vehicle can perform very well in emergencies like
these. First apply your brakes. (See “Braking in
Emergencies” earlier in this section.) 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
180 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 such emergency situations are always
possible
is a good reason to practice defensive driving at
all times and wear safety belts properly.
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0 Do not get too close to the vehicle you want to
pass while you’re awaiting an opportunity. For one
thing, following too closely reduces your area of
vision, especially if you’re following
a larger
vehicle. Also, you won’t have adequate space if the
vehicle ahead suddenly slows
or stops. Keep back a
reasonable distance.
When it looks like a chance to pass is coming up,
start to accelerate but stay in the right lane and don’t
get too close. Time your move
so you will be
increasing speed as the time comes
to move into the
other lane.
If the way is clear to pass, you will have a
“running start” that more than makes up for the
distance you would lose
by dropping back. And if
something happens to cause you to cancel your pass,
you need only slow down and drop back again and
wait for another opportunity.
If other cars are lined up to pass a slow vehicle, wait
your turn. But take care that someone isn’t trying to
pass you as you pull
out to pass the slow vehicle.
Remember to glance over your shoulder and check
the blind spot.
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 lamps
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.
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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.
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 vehicle’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 and an acceleration skid are best
handled by easing your foot off the accelerator pedal.
If your vehicle starts to slide, ease your foot off the
accelerator pedal and quickly steer
the way you want the
vehicle to go.
If you start steering quickly enough, your
vehicle may straighten out. Always be ready for a
second skid if it occurs.
Of course, traction is reduced when water, snow, ice,
gravel or other material is on the road. For safety, you’ll
want to slow down and adjust your driving to these
conditions. It is important to slow down on slippery
surfaces because stopping distance will be longer and
vehicle control more limited.
While driving on a surface with reduced traction, try
your best to avoid sudden steering, acceleration or
braking (including engine braking by shifting to a lower
gear). Any sudden changes could cause the tires to slide.
You may not realize
the surface is slippery until your
vehicle is skidding. Learn to recognize warning
clues
-- such as enough water, ice or packed snow on
the road to make a “mirrored surface”
-- and slow
down when you have any doubt.
Remember: Any anti-lock brake system
(ABS) helps
avoid only the braking skid.
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