1994 CADILLAC SEVILLE Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine NOTICE: -
Don’t lubricate the power antenna. Lubrication could damage it.
-
I 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.
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YOUR DRIVING AND THE ROAD
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. I
DEFENSM DMNG
The best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive defensively.
c-
Please start with a very important safety device in your Cadillac: 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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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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.
DRUNIKE2v DRIVTNG
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:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
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 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:
0 How much alcohol is in the drink.
The drinker’s body weight.
0 The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking.
0 The length of time it has taken the drinker to consume the alcohol.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 &.&at 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.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine NUMBER OF DRINKS [as in picture)
DRINKING THAT WILL
RESULT IN A BAC OF .O5O/o
IN THE TIME SHOWN
100 120 140 160 I80 200 220 240
BODY WEIGHT IN POUNDS
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
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine person with a higher 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. That’s especially true for brain, spinal cord
and heart injuries. That means that if anyone who has been drinking
--
driver or passenger -- is in a crash, the chance of being killed or
permanently disabled is higher than
if that person had not been drinking.
And we’ve already seen that the chance of a crash itself
is higher for
drinking drivers.
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.
BRAKIN%
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 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
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 Cadillac has an advanced electronic braking system that will help
prevent skidding.
This light on the
instrument panel will
go
on when you start
your vehicle.
ANTI-
LOCK (@!
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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