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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine lnstrument Panel
1. Vents
2. Instrument Cluster
3. Air ConditionerLHeater
4. Glove Box
5. Sound System
6. Power Aux Outlets
(Optional)
6. Cigarette Lighter
lnstrument Cluster
7. Brake Release Handle
8. Light Switches
9. Electronic Transfer Case (Option)
10. Fog Lamp Switch (Optional)
11. Ashtray
12. Storage Compartment
Your instrument cluster
is designed to let you know at a glance how your
vehicle is running. you’ll know how fast you’re going, about how much fuel
you’ve used, and many other things you’ll need to know to drive safely and
economically.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine You will see this light flash for a few seconds when you turn your ignition
to RUN or START. Then the light should go out. This means the system is
ready.
If the air bag readiness light doesn’t come
on when you start your vehicle,
or stays on, or comes
on when you are driving, your air bag system may not
work properly. Have your vehicle serviced right away.
Brake System Warning Light
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BRAKE
Your vehicle’s hydraulic brake system is divided into two parts. If one part
isn’t working, the other part can still work and stop you. For good braking,
though, you need both parts working well.
Your vehicle also has rear-wheel or four-wheel anti-lock brakes. See
“Anti-Lock Brakes” in the Index. If the warning light comes on, there could
be a brake problem with either your regular or rear-wheel anti-lock brakes,
or both. Have your brake system inspected right away.
This light should come
on briefly as you start the vehicle. If it doesn’t come
on then, have it fixed
so it will be ready to warn you if there’s a problem.
If the light comes on while you are driving, pull off the road and stop
carefully. You may notice that the pedal is harder
to push. Or, the pedal may
go closer to the floor. It may take longer to stop. If the light
is still on, have
the vehicle towed for service. (See “Towing Your Vehicle” in the Index.)
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine The brake system warning light will also come on when you set your
parking brake, and it will stay on if your parking brake doesn’t release fully.
If it stays on after your parking brake is fully released, it means you have a
brake problem.
Anti-Lock Brake System Warning Light (Option)
If your vehicle has four-wheel anti-lock brakes, it will have this yellow
light.
With the anti-lock brake system, this light will come on when you
start your
engine and may stay on for several seconds. That’s normal. If the light
doesn’t come
on, have it fixed so it will be ready to warn you if there is a
problem.
If the light stays on, or comes on when you’re driving, your vehicle needs
service. If the regular brake system warning light isn’t on, you still have
brakes, but you don’t have anti-lock brakes. If the regular brake system
warning light is also
on, you don’t have anti-lock brakes and there’s a
problem with your regular brakes. See “Brake System Warning Light”
earlier in this part.
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Page 108 of 354
Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Daytime Running Lamps (DRL) Indicator Light
This green DRL
indicator light is
above the fuel gage on
the instrument cluster.
The
DRL indicator light is on whenever the ignition is on and the headlight
switch and parking brake are off. For more details about
DRL, see “Daytime
Running
Lamps” in this section.
SHIFT Indicator Light
This amber SHIFT
indicator light is at the
top of the instrument
cluster of vehicles
with manual
transmissions.
Shifting when the
indicator light
is on
will help
you get the
best fuel economy.
See “SHIFT Light”
in
this section.
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Page 135 of 354

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 affects four things that anyone needs to drive a vehicle:
Judgment
0 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
The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking
The length of time it’s taken the drinker to consume the alcohol
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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 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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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 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
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 vehicle has an advanced electronic braking system that can help you
keep it under control.
If your vehicle has an anti-lock brake system warning light on the
instrument panel, it has four-wheel anti-lock brakes. Otherwise, it has
rear-wheel anti-lock brakes. When you start a vehicle that has four-wheel
anti-lock brakes and begin to drive away, you may hear a momentary motor
or clicking noise. This is the
ABS system testing itself.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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. With four-wheel
anti-lock: 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
four-wheel anti-lock system can change the brake pressure faster than any
driver could. With rear-wheel anti-lock: If one
of the rear wheels is about
to stop rolling, the computer will work the brakes at the rear wheels. The
computer
is programmed to make the most of available tire and road
conditions.
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.
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