1995 CHEVROLET BLAZER Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine You may prefer to use a non-scrubbing action, wet-type cleaner. This type
of cleaner uses a fabric belt to clean the tape head. This type of cleaner
cassette will not cause an error, but it may not clean the tape player as
thoroughly as the scrubbing type cleaner.
A scrubbing action cleaner cassette is available through your retailer (SPO
12344600).
Cassettes are subject to wear and the sound quality may degrade over time.
Always verify that the cassette tape
is in good condition and the tape player
is clean before obtaining service on your tape player.
t
NOTICE:
Cassette tape adapter kits for portable CD players will not work
in your cassette player. These adapters will cause the radio t\
o
display an error and the adapter cassette will be ejected.
Care of 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.
Antenna Care
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.
3-19

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Notes
3-20

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Your Driving and the Road
Section
1
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.
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in your vehic\
le: 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.
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:
0 Judgment
Muscular Coordination
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:
0 How much alcohol consumed
The drinker’s body weight
0 The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking
0 The length of time it’s taken the drinker to consume the alcohol
4-2

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 &ounce (120 ml) glasses of wine or three mixed
drinks if each had 1-1/2 ounces
(45 rnl) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or
vodka.
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 lev\
el 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 limit is 0.08
percent. In some other countries it’s even lower. The BAC limit for all
commercial drivers in the
U.S . 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 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 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!
4-3

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 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 go where you want it to go.
They are the brakes, the steering and the accelerator. All three systems hav\
e
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.
4-4

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 reactiun time.
Average reaction time is about 314 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 kmk) 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
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.
4-5

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 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 b\
rakes 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.
As you brake, your computer keeps receiving updates on wheel speed and\

controls braking pressure accordingly.
4-6