Your Driving and the Road
108
“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.
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. 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.
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,
Wt Is All-Wheel Drive?
All the Wheels, All the Time
Bravada has a unique system called all-
wheel drive
(AWD) . Simply stated,
AWD supplies power from the engine to
all four wheels, all the time. It works in
ProCarManuals.com
Your Driving and the Road
110
SERVICE
ENGINE
SOON ANT’- LOCK I
Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your vehicle has an advanced electronic
braking system that can help you keep
it under control. When you start your
vehicle and begin to drive away, you
may hear a momentary motor or
clicking noise. This is the ABS system
testing itself. Here’s how anti-lock works.
Let’s say
the road is wet. You’re driving safely.
Suddenly an animal jumps out in front
You slam on the brakes. Here’s what
happens with
ABS.
A computer senses that the 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. 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.
of
you.
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 Four-wheel Anti-Lock
Don’t pump the brakes. Just hold the
brake pedal down and let anti-lock
work for you. You may feel the brakes
vibrate, or you may notice some noise,
but this is normal.
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