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Care of Your Cassette Tape Player
A tape player that is not cleaned regularly can cause
reduced sound quality, ruined cassettes or a damaged
mechanism. Cassette tapes should be stored in their
cases away from contaminants, direct sunlight and
extreme heat.
If they aren’t, they may not operate
properly or may cause failure of the tape player.
Your tape player should be cleaned regularly after
every
50 hours of use. Your radio may display CLN or
CLEAN TAPE to indicate that you have used your tape
player for
50 hours without resetting the tape clean
timer. Each time the cassette is cleaned, the
50 hour
cassette timer should be reset. This is done by holding
down the eject button for five seconds or until the TAPE
CLEAN message
is displayed. If you notice a reduction
in
sound quality, try a known good cassette to see if the
tape or the tape player is at
fault. If this other cassette
has no improvement in sound quality, clean the
tape
player.
Cleaning may be done with
a scrubbing action,
non-abrasive cleaning cassette with pads which scrub
the tape head as
the hubs of the cleaner cassette turn.
It is normal for the cassette to eject while cleaning.
Insert the cassette at least six times to ensure thorough
cleaning. A scrubbing action cleaning cassette is
available through your Cadillac dealer.
You may also choose a non-scrubbing action, wet-type
cleaner which uses a cassette with a fabric belt to clean
the tape head. This type
of cleaning cassette will not
eject. It may not clean as thoroughly
as the scrubbing
type cleaner.
Cassettes
are subject to wear and the sound quality may
degrade over time. Always make sure that the cassette
tape is in good condition before you have your tape
player serviced.
Care of Your 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.
3-35

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.
4-6

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine c
TRACTION
CONTROL
L
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.
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.)
1
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.
4-9

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 RECOVERY
r// edge ot paved surtace
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
tum your
steering wheel
to go straight down the roadway.
4-12

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Here are some tips on night driving.
0 Drive defensively.
0 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.
0 If you’re tired, pull off the road in a safe place and
rest.
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.
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 your 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. 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.
4-16

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine I 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.
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.
4-18

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine L
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
~ ~~~~ ~
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
0
0
0
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 careful 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.)

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:
0 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
trip.
0 Try to use the freeways that rim and crisscross most
large cities. You’ll save time and energy. (See the
next part, “Freeway Driving.”)
0 Treat a green light as a warning signal. A traffic 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.
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