1996 CADILLAC DEVILLE light

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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
Your vehicle has anti-lock brakes (ABS). ABS is an
advanced electronic braking system that will help
prevent a braking skid.
When you start your engine and begin to drive away,
your anti-lock brake system will check itself.
You may
hear a momentary motor or clicking noise while this test
is going on, and you may even notice that your brake
pedal moves a little. This is normal.
ANTI -
LOCK
If there’s a problem with the
anti-lock brake system, this
warning light will stay on. See “Anti-Lock Brake
System
Warning Light” in
the Index.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine . <.”’. ’ .:, . -. -. .
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TRACTION
CONTROL
This warning light will
come on to let you know
if
there’s a problem with your
traction control system. See
“Traction Control System
Warning Light” in the
Index. When this warning
light is on, the system will
not limit wheel spin. Adjust your driving accordingly.
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The traction control system automatically comes on
whenever you
start your vehicle. To limit wheel spin,
especially
in slippery road conditions, you should
always leave the system on.
But you can turn the
traction control system off
if you ever need to.
(You should turn the system
off if your vehicle ever
gets stuck
in sand, mud, ice or snow. See “Rocking
Your Vehicle” in the Index.)
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To turn the system off, press
the
TRAC OFF button
located inside of the glove
box.
The TRACTION OFF message will display on the
Driver Information Center. If the system
is limiting
wheel spin when you press the button, the TRACTION
OFF message will display -- but the system won’t turn
off right away. It will wait until there’s no longer a
current need to limit
wheel spin.
You can
turn the system back on at any time by pressing
the button again. The TRACTION
READY message
should display briefly
on the Driver Information Center.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine An emergency like this requires close attention and a
quick decision.
If you are holding the steering wheel at
the recommended
9 and 3 o’clock positions, you can
turn
it a full 180 degrees very quickly without removing
either hand. But you have to act fast, steer quickly
and
just as quickly straighten the wheel once you have
avoided the object.
The fact that such emergency situations are always
possible is a good reason
to practice defensive driving at
all times and wear safety belts properly.
Off-Road Recovery
You may find sometime that your right wheels have
dropped
off the edge of a road onto the shoulder while
you’re driving.
OFF-ROAD RECOVE
edge of paved surtsCe
If the level of the shoulder is only slightly below the
pavement, recovery
should be fairly easy. Ease off the
accelerator
and then, if there is nothing in the way, steer
so that your vehicle straddles the edge of the pavement.
You can turn the steering wheel up to one-quarter turn
until the’ right front tire contacts the pavement edge. Then
turn your steering wheel to
go straight down the roadway.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Here are some tips on night driving.
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Drive defensively.
Don’t drink and drive.
Since
you can’t see as well, you may need to slow
down and keep more space between you and other
vehicles.
Slow down, especially
on higher speed roads. Your
headlamps can light up only
so much road ahead.
In remote areas, watch for animals.
If you’re tired, pull off the road. in a safe place and
rest.
Night Vision
No one can see as well at night as in the daytime. But as
we get older these differences increase. A 50-year-old
driver may require at least twice as much light to see the
same thing at night as a 20-year-old.
What
you do in the daytime can also affect y6lE night
vision. For example,
if you spend the day in bright
sunshine you
are wise to wear sunglasses. Your eyes
will have less trouble adjusting
to night. But if you’re
driving, don’t wear sunglasses at night. They may cut
down
on glare from headlamps, but they also make a
lot of things invisible. You
can
be temporarily blinded by approaching
headlamps. It can take
a second or two, or even several
seconds, for your eyes to readjust to the dark. When you
are faced with severe glare (as from
a driver who
doesn’t lower the high beams, or a vehicle with
misaimed headlamps), slow down
a little. Avoid staring
directly into the approaching headlamps.
Keep your windshield and all the glass on your vehicle
clean
-- inside and out. Glare at night is made much
worse by dirt on the glass. Even the inside
of the glass
can build up a film caused by dust.
Dirty glass makes
lights dazzle and flash more than clean glass would,
making the pupils
of your eyes contract repeatedly.
Remember that your headlamps light up
far less of a
roadway when you are in a turn or curve. Keep
your
eyes moving; that way, it’s easier to pick out dimly
lighted objects. Just as your headlamps should be
checked regularly for proper aim,
so should your eyes
be examined regularly. Some drivers suffer from night
blindness
-- the inability to see in dim light -- and
aren’t even aware of
it.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Driving too fast through large water puddles or even
going through some car washes can cause problems, too.
The water may affect your brakes. Try to avoid puddles.
But if you can’t, try to slow down before you hit them.
A CAUTION:
Wet brakes can cause accidents. They won’t work
well in a quick stop and may cause pulling to one
side. You
could lose control of the vehicle.
After driving through
a large puddle of water or
a car wash, apply your brake pedal lightly until
your brakes work normally.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine r
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Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning is dangerous. So much water can build up
under your tires that they can actually ride on the water.
This can happen if the road is wet enough and you’re
going fast enough. When your vehicle is hydroplaning,
it has little or no contact with the road.
Hydroplaning doesn’t happen often.
But it can if your
tires haven’t much tread or
if the pressure in one or
more is low. It can happen if a lot of water is standing on
the road.
If you can see reflections from trees, telephone
poles or other vehicles, and raindrops “dimple” the
water’s surface, there could
be hydroplaning.
Hydroplaning usually happens at higher speeds. There
just isn’t a hard and fast rule about hydroplaning. The
best advice is to slow down when it
is raining.
Driving Through Deep Standing Water
NOTICE:
If you drive too quickly through deep puddles or
standing water, water can come in through your engine’s
air intake and badly damage your
engine. Never drive through water that is slightly
lower than the underbody
of your vehicle. If you
can’t avoid
deep puddles or standing water, drive
through them very slowly.
Some Other Rainy Weather Tips
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Turn on your low-beam headlamps -- not just your
parking lamps
-- to help make you more, visible to
others.
Besides slowing down, allow some extra following
distance. And be especially carehl when
you pass
another vehicle. Allow yourself more clear room
ahead, and be prepared to have your view restricted
by road spray.
Have good tires with proper tread depth. (See
“Tires” in the Index.)
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine City Driving
One of the biggest problems with city streets is the
amount of traffic
on them. You’ll want to watch out for
what the other drivers are doing and pay attention to
traffic signals. Here are ways to increase your safety in city driving:
Know the best way to get to where you are going.
Get a city map and plan your trip into an unknown
part of the city just as you would for a cross-country
Try to use the freeways that rim and crisscross most
large cities. You’ll save time and energy. (See the
next part, “Freeway Driving.”)
Treat a green light as a warning signal. A trd3c light
is there because the comer is busy enough to need it.
When a light
turns green, and just before you start
to move, check both ways for vehicles that have not
cleared
the intersection or may be running the red light.
trip.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Freeway Driving
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Mile for mile, freeways (also called thruways, parkways,
expressways, turnpikes or superhighways) are the safest
of all roads. But they have their own special rules.
The most important advice on freeway driving is: Keep
up with traffic and keep to the right. Drive at
the same
speed most
of the other drivers are driving. Too-fast or
too-slow driving breaks a smooth traffic flow. Treat the.
left lane on
a freeway as a passing lane.
At the entrance, there is usually a ramp that leads to the
freeway. If you have a clear view of the freeway as YOU
drive along the entrance ramp, you should begin to
check traffic. Try to determine where you expect to
blend with
the flow. Try to merge into the gap at close to
the prevailing speed. Switch on your
turn signal, check
your mirrors and glance over your shoulder as often as
necessary. Try to blend smoothly with the traffic
flow.
Once you are on the freeway, adjust your speed to the
posted
limit or to the prevailing rate if it’s slower. Stay
in the right lane unless
you want to pass.
Before changing lanes, check your mirrors. Then use
your turn signal.
Just before
you leave the lane, glance quickly over your
shoulder to make sure there isn’t another vehicle in your
“blind” spot.
Once you
are moving on the freeway, make certain you
allow a reasonable following distance. Expect to move slightly slower
at night.
When you want to leave
the freeway, move to the proper
lane well in advance.
If you miss your exit, do not,
under any circumstances, stop
and back up. Drive on to
the
next exit.
The exit ramp can be curved, sometimes quite sharply.