1997 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE Owners Manual

Understanding Radio Reception
FM Stereo
FM stereo will give you the best sound. But mcl signals
will reach only about
10 to 40 miles (16 to 65 km). Tall
buildings
or hills can interfere with FM signals, causing
the sound
to come and go.
AM
The range for most AM stations is greater than for FM,
especially at night. The longer range, however, can
cause stations to interfere
with each other. AM can pick
up noise from things like storms and power lines. Try
reducing the treble to reduce this noise if
you ever get it.
Tips About Your Audio System
Hearing damage from loud noise is almost undetectable
until it is too late. Your hearing can adapt to higher
volumes of sound. Sound that
seems normal cin be loud
and harmful to your hearing. Take precautions by
adjusting the volume control on your radio to a safe
sound level before your hearing adapts to it.
To help avoid hearing loss or damage:
Adjust the volume control to the lowest setting.
Increase volume slowly until you hear comfortably
and clearly.
I NOTICE:
Before you add any sound equipment to your
vehicle
-- like a tape player, CB radio, mobile
telephone or two-way radio
-- be sure you can add
what you want. If you can, it’s very important to
do it properly. Added sound equipment may
interfere with the operation
of your vehicle’s
engine, Delco radio or other systems, and even
damage them. Your vehicle’s systems may
interfere with the operation
of sound equipment
that has been added improperly.
So, before adding sound equipment, check with
your dealer and be sure to check Federal rules
covering mobile radio and telephone unit,s.
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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 to indicate
that you have used your tape player for
50 hours without
resetting the tape clean timer. If this message appears
on the display, your cassette tape player needs to be
cleaned. It will still play tapes, but you should clean it as
soon as possible to prevent damage to your tapes and
player. If you notice a reduction in sound quality, try a
known good cassette to see if it is the tape or the tape
player 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.
Follow these steps to prevent the cassette from being ejected due to the CUT TAPE DETECTION feature:
1. Turn the radio off and the ignition on.
2. Press and hold the TAPEPLAY button for three
seconds (tape indicator will flash for two seconds).
3. Insert the cleaner cassette (a CD adapter kit may also
be inserted).
The radio will default back to CUT TAPE DETECTION
when the cleaner cassette (or CD adapter kit) is ejected.
You may also choose a non-scrubbing action, wet-type
cleaner which uses a cassette with a fabric belt to dean
the tape head.
It may not clean as thoroughly as the
scrubbing type cleaner.
After you clean the player, press and hold
EJECT for
five seconds to reset the CLN indicator. The radio will
display
--- to show the indicator was reset.
Cassettes are subject to wear and the sound quality may
degrade over time. Always make sure 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.
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Fixed Mast Antenna
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.
Power Antenna Mast Care
Your power antenna will look its best and work well
if it’s cleaned from time to time. To clean the
antenna mast:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Turn on the ignition and radio to raise the antenna.
Dampen a clean cloth with mineral spirits or
equivalent solvent.
Wipe the cloth over the mast sections, removing
any dirt.
Wipe dry with a clean cloth.
Make the antenna go
up and down by turning the
radio or ignition
off and on,
Repeat if necessary.
NOTICE:
~~ ~
Don’t lubricate the power antenna. Lubrication
could damage it.
NOTICE:
Before entering an automatic car wash, turn off
your radio to make the power antenna go down.
This will prevent the mast from possibly getting
damaged.
If the antenna does not go down when
you turn the radio off, it may be damaged or
need to be cleaned. In either case, lower the
antenna
by hand by carefully pressing the
antenna down.
If the mast portion of your antenna is damaged, you can
easily replace it. See your dealer for
a replacement kit
and
follow the instructions in the kit.
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6 NOTES
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b% NOTES
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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.
4-2 Defensive Driving 4-18
Driving in Rain and on Wet Roads
4-3 Drunken Driving 4-2
1 City
Driving
4-6 Control
of a Vehicle
4-6 Braking 4-22
Freeway Driving
4-23 Before Leaving on a Long Trip
4-
10 Steering 4-24
Highway Hypnosis
4-13 Off-Road Recovery
4-30
Loading Your Vehicle 4-15 Loss of Control
4-26 Winter Driving
4-13 Passing 4-24
Hill and Mountain Roads
4- 16 Driving at Night 4-32
Towing a Trailer
4-1
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Defensive Driving
The best advic’e anyone can give about driving is:
Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device
in your
Pontiac: 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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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
0 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 17,000 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:
The amount of 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 has taken the drinker to
According to
the American Medical Association, a
180-lb. (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 4-ounce (120 ml) glasses
of wine or
three mixed drinks if each had 1 - 1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin
or vodka.
consume
the alcohol.
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