1994 BUICK REGAL Owners Manual

Care of Your Cassette Tape Player
A tape player that is not cleaned regularly can cause
reduced sound quality, ruined cassettes, or a damaged
mechanism. Cassette tapes should be stored in their
cases away from contaminants, direct sunlight, and
extreme heat. If
they aren't, they may not operate
properly or cause failure of the tape player.
Your tape player should be cleaned regularly each
month or after every
15 hours of use. If you notice a
reduction in sound quality, try
a known good cassette to
see if the tape or the tape player is at fault. If this other
cassette has no improvement in sound quality, clean the
tape player.
Clean your tape player
with a wiping-action,
non-abrasive cleaning cassette, and follow the directions
provided with
it.
Cassettes are subject to wear and the sound quality may
degrade over time. Always make sure that the cassette
tape is
in good condition before you have your tape
player serviced.
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Care of Your 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 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.
If necessary, tighten the antenna
with your hand until
snug and then use a wrench to tighten it another 1/4 of a
turn.
Power Antenna Mast Care
Your power antenna will look its best and work well if
it’s cleaned from time
to time.
To Clean 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.
3. Wipe cloth over the
mast sections, removing
any dirt.
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4. Wipe dry with clean cloth before retracting.
5. Make the antenna go up and down by turning the
radio or ignition on and
off.
6. Then repeat if necessary.
1 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 getting
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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1940 Buick Model 51 G
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....
Part 4 Your Driving and the Road
I
. I
Here you’ll find information about driving on different kinds ot roads and in varying weather conditions . We’ve also
included many other useful tips
on driving .
Part 4 includes:
DefensiveDriving .................................................................
ControlofaVehicle ................................................................
Braking .....................................................................
Steering .....................................................................
Passing .....................................................................
LossofControl ....................................................................
DrivingatNight ...................................................................
DrivingintheRain .................................................................
CityDriving ......................................................................
FreewayDriving ....................................................................
HillandMountainRoads ............................................................
WinterDriving ....................................................................
DrunkenDriving ..................................................................
TowingaTrailer ...................................................................
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140
143
144
146
149 151
152
153 155
156
159
160
164
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F
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive
defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in your
Buick: 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.
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 takes away three things that anyone needs
to drive a vehicle:
0 Judgment
0 Muscular Coordination
0 Vision
Police records show that almost 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. About
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20,000 motor vehicle-related deaths occur each year
because of 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 “too much”? It can be
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 Content (BAC) of someone who is
drinking depends upon four things:
How much alcohol is in the drink.
0 The drinker’s body weight.
0 The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking.
The length of time it has taken the drinker to
consume the alcohol.
r
1
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.
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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
slightly lower BAC level.
OF DRINKS
NUMBER (as in picture)
100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240
BODY WEIGHT IN
POUNDS
DRINKING THAT WILL
RESULT IN A BAG OF .05%
IN THE TIME SHOWN
HOURS
HOURS
HOUR
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 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.
“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.
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