PONTIAC BONNEVILLE 1995 Owners Manual

Compact Discs Care
Handle discs carehlly. 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 being 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
replace
it.
Check every once in a while to be sure the mast is still
tightened to the fender.
Power Antenna Mast Care
Your power antenna will
look its best and work well
if it’s cleaned from time to
time.
Cleaning the antenna mast:
1. Turn on the ignition and radio to raise the antenna to
full mast extension.
2. Dampen a clean cloth with mineral spirits or
equivalent solvent.
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3. Wipe cloth over the mast sections, removing any
4. Wipe dry with clean cloth before retracting.
5. Make the antenna go up and down by turning the
dirt.
radio or ignition on and
off.
6. Then repeat if necessary.
NOTICE:
Don’t lubricate the power antenna. Lubrication
could damage
it.
NOTICE:
Before entering an automatic car wash, turn off
your radio to make the power antenna go down.
This will prevent the mast from possibly
geug
damaged. If the antenna does not go down when
you turn the radio off,
it may be damaged or
need to be cleaned. In either case, lower the
antenna by hand by carefully pressing the
antenna down.
If the mast portion of your antenna is damaged, you can
easily replace it. See your dealer for a replacement kit
and follow the instructions in the kit.
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NOTES
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Section 4 Your Driving and the Road
I 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 “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
Here
you’ll find information about driving on different know when the vehicle in front of you is going to brake
kinds of roads and in varying weather conditions. We’ve or suddenly.
also included many other useful tips on driving.
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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
highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims every
year.
Alcohol affects
four things that anyone needs to drive a
vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
a 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
21, 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
0 The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking
the alcohol
The length of time it’s taken the drinker to consume
According to the American
Medical Association, a
180-pound (82 kg) person who drinks thee 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 d) glasses
of wine or three mixed drinks if each had 1-1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka.
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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 lirnit is 0.08 percent. In some
other countries it’s even lower. The BAC limit for
all
commercial drivers in the US. 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 aected 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.
Statistics 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!
The body takes about
an hour to rid itself of the alcohol
in one
drink. No amount of coffee or number of cold
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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 actian, 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 cord 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 g~ 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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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 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
bralung. 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 Pontiac has an advanced electronic braking system
that will help prevent a braking skid.
This light on the
instrument panel will
come
on briefly when
When
you start your vehicle and begin to drive away,
your anti-lock brake
system will check itself. You may
hear
a momentary motor or clicking noise while this is
going on and
you may even notice that your brake pedal
moves a little.
This is normal. 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. 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.
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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.
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 or
stops. Always leave enough room 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 (Option)
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
(by shutting off fuel injectors and managing engine
spark) to limit wheel spin.
You may feel the system working, or you may notice
some noise, 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 re-engage the cruise control. (See
“Cruise Control” in the Index.)
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