1995 CHEVROLET TRACKER brake

Brake System Warning Light
BRAKE
United States Canada
Your Geo’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 anti-lock brakes. 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.)
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.
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Gem Section 4 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.
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive
defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in your
Geo: 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.
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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.
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.
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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 brahng system
that can help
you keep it under control.
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.
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A computer senses that the rear wheels are slowing
down.
If one of the rear wheels is about to stop rolling,
the computer will work the brakes at the rear wheels. It
is programmed to make the most
of available tire and
road conditions.
As you brake, your computer keeps receiving updates
on
rear 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 Anti-Lock
Use rear-wheel anti-lock like regular brakes. You may
feel the brakes; vibrate, or you may notice some noise
outside your vehicle, but this is normal. Let anti-lock
work for
you, but remember: Your front wheels can still
stop rolling.
If that happens, release enough pressure on
the brakes to get the wheels rolling again
so that you can
steer.
With the four-wheel drive option, you won’t have
anti-lock brak.ing when
you shift into four-wheel drive.
But
you will have regular braking. When you shift back
into two-wheel drive,
you will have anti-lock again.
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Braking in Emergencies
At some time, nearly every driver gets into a situation
that requires hard braking.
You have the rear-wheel anti-lock braking system. Your
front wheels can stop rolling when
you brake very hard.
Once they do, the vehicle can’t respond to your steering.
Momentum will carry it in whatever direction it was
headed when the front wheels stopped rolling. That
could be
off the road, into the very thing you were trying
to avoid, or into traffic.
So, use a “squeeze” braking technique. This will give
you maximum braking while maintaining steering
control. You
do this by pushing on the brake pedal with
steadily increasing pressure. When
you do, it will help
maintain steering control.
In many emergencies, steering
can help you more than even the very best braking.
Steering
Power Steering
If you lose power steering assist because the engine
stops or the system is not functioning, you
can steer but
it will take much more effort.
Steering Tips
Driving on Curves
It’s important to take curves at a reasonable speed.
A lot of the “driver lost control” accidents mentioned on
the news happen on curves. Here’s why:
Experienced driver or beginner, each
of us is subject to
the same laws
of physics when driving on curves. The
traction
of the tires against the road surface makes it
possible for the vehicle
to change its path when you turn
the front wheels.
If there’s no traction, inertia will keep
the vehicle going in the same direction.
If you’ve ever
tried
to steer a vehicle on wet ice, you’ll understand this.
The traction you can get in
a curve depends on the
condition of your tires and the road surface, the angle at
which the curve is banked, and your speed. While
you’re
in a curve, speed is the one factor you can
control.
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Suppose you’re steering through a sharp curve.
Then you suddenly apply the brakes. Both control
systems
-- steering and braking -- have to do their
work where the tires meet the road. Adding the hard
bralung can demand too much at those places. You can
lose control.
The same thing can happen if you’re steering through
a
sharp curve and you suddenly accelerate. Those two
control systems
-- steering and acceleration -- can
overwhelm those places where the tires meet the road
and make
you lose control.
What should
you do if this ever happens? Ease up on the
brake or accelerator pedal, steer the vehicle
the way you
want it to go, and slow down.
Speed limit signs near curves warn that
you should
adjust your speed.
Of course, the posted speeds are
based on good weather and road conditions. Under less
favorable conditions you’ll want to go slower.
Steering in Emergencies
There are times when steering can be more effective
than braking. For example,
you come over a hill and
find a truck stopped in your lane,
or a car suddenly pulls
out from nowhere,
or a child darts out from between
parked cars and stops right in front
of you. You can
avoid these problems by braking
-- if you can stop in
time. But sometimes
you can’t; there isn’t room. That’s
the time for evasive action
-- steering around the
problem.
Your Geo can perform very well in emergencies like
these. First apply your brakes, but not enough to lock
your front wheels. (See “Braking in Emergencies’’
earlier in this section.) It is better to remove
as much
speed as you can from a possible collision. Then steer
around the problem,
to the left or right depending on the
space available.
If you need to reduce your speed as you approach
a
curve, do it before you enter the curve, while your front
wheels are straight ahead.
Try
to adjust your speed so you can “drive” through the
curve. Maintain
a reasonable, steady speed. Wait to
accelerate until you are out
of the curve, and then
accelerate gently into the straightaway.
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Check your mirrors, glance over your shoulder, and
start your left lane change signal before moving out
of the right lane to pass. When you are far enough
ahead
of the passed vehicle to see its front in your
inside mirror, activate your right lane change signal
and move back into the right lane. (Remember that
your right outside mirror is convex. The vehicle
you
just passed may seem to be farther away from you
than it really is.)
Try not to pass more than one vehicle at a time on
two-lane roads. Reconsider before passing the
next
vehicle.
0 Don’t overtake a slowly moving vehicle too rapidly.
Even though the brake lamps are not flashing, it may
be slowing down
or starting to turn.
following driver to get ahead
of you. Perhaps you
can ease a little to the right.
If you’re being passed, make it easy for the
Loss of Control
Let’s review what driving experts say about what
happens when the three control systems (brakes, steering
and acceleration) don’t have enough friction where the
tires meet the road to do what the driver has asked.
In any emergency, don’t give up. Keep trying to steer
and constantly seek an escape route or area
of less
danger.
Skidding
In a skid, a driver can lose control of the vehicle.
Defensive drivers avoid most skids by taking reasonable
care suited to existing conditions, and by not
“overdriving” those conditions. But skids are always
possible.
The three types
of skids correspond to your Geo’s three
control systems. In the braking skid your wheels aren’t
rolling. In the steering or cornering skid, too much speed
or steering in a curve causes tires to slip
and lose
cornering force. And in the acceleration skid too much
throttle causes the driving wheels to spin.
A cornering skid and an acceleration skid are best
handled by easing your foot off the accelerator pedal.
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