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are located at the inboard rear of the seat. To increase lumbar
support, squeeze the bulb repeatedly until sufficient support is obtained. To decrease support, press the small black button at
the base of the inflator bulb.
Seat Belts Seat belts provide important safety and comfort for both
driver and passenger and have proven to be the single most
effective safety device in reducing the risk of death or injury in
a crash. The seat belts should be worn at all times, no matter how short the journey. This is required by law in most states
and in all Canadian provinces. As a reminder, the seat belt tell
tale in the instrument cluster will flash until the driver's seat
belt is fastened, accompanied for the first eight seconds by an
audible chime.
Inertia Reel Seat Belts The standard fitment inertia reel seat belts allow the wearer
freedom of movement under normal driving conditions. The belt reel will lock automatically whenever the car is subjected to brak
-
ing, acceleration, or cornering forces, or on impact in a collision. Reel locking will also occur on steep hills or slopes, or if the
car is tilted. In the event of a severe frontal impact sufficient to
trigger the airbag system, a pre-tensioning device incorporated into each seat belt assembly will operate to tighten the belt for
increased occupant protection.
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SEAT BELT POSITIONING
Seating & Safety Restraints
18
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Passive Ilisation: The start button will operate only when the
security tell tale in the tachometer face is out. If the tell tale is
flashing, the engine is immobilised; Press once,
and for a full second, the larger of the two buttons on the trans
-
mitter fob. The security tell tale will be extinguished. For further
information see ‘Car Security Alarm’.
WARNING ‘TELL TALE’ LAMPS A block of tell tale lamps is incorporated into the instrument
cluster to provide you with important information concerning the
operation of your Elise.
Bulb Check In order to check that the warning systems are operative, all
the tell tale lamps (except the ‘security’ tell tale; see Car Se
-
curity Alarm section) should light for about 6 seconds following ignition switch on. If any lamp should fail to light, it is possible
that the bulb or warning circuit may be faulty; see your dealer
without delay.
Turn Tell Tale
When the left hand or right hand turn indicators are operating,
this green tell tale flashes in unison. A clicking sound may also be heard. If the tell tale fails to light, or flashes at an unusual or
irregular rate, check the operation of the turn indicator lamps
immediately.
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Instruments & Switches
46
TELL TALE LAMPS
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engine speed is being approached. When exploiting full accel-
eration, gearchange upshifts should be made immediately the
tell tale comes on.
Note that this lamp also functions as a security system tell
tale (see ‘Car Security’). Recalibration of the speedo and tacho needle zero positions
will occur during a 3 second period following ignition switch on,
but if a needle becomes ‘stranded‘ outside of the re-calibration
range, the following procedure should be followed:
With the car stationary;
• Open driver‘s door;
• Press and hold trip reset button on steering column shroud;
• Turn on ignition.
LCD DISPLAY PANEL A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel is provided below the
instruments in order to display fuel level, coolant temperature,
total mileage and trip functions. The panel is blank until the ignition is switched on.
Fuel Level Display An indication of the level of fuel in the tank is displayed in
the form of a bar graph at the right hand top of the LCD panel in the instrument cluster. When completely full (approximately
10.6 U.S. gall. {40 litres}), the display will show 6 black segments. As the fuel level falls, a white band will extend from the right to represent the empty proportion.
Instruments & Switches
52
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Trip distanceProportion of fuel remaining
Odometer Coolant temperaure
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Parking BrakeThe parking brake, which operates on only the rear wheels
is applied by a hand lever mounted between the seats. A red
tell tale icon in the instrument cluster warns of parking brake application (see ‘Tell Tale Lamps’). The brake should be applied by pulling up the lever with high
effort, and engaging the highest ratchet setting attainable. When
parking the car on a slope take the additional precaution of leav
-
ing the transmission in first (facing downhill) or reverse (facing uphill) gear and steering the wheels towards the kerb.
WARNING: If the parking brake is applied when the brakes are hot
(e.g. after prolonged or frequent hard use), special care
should be taken to ensure that the parking brake is securely engaged in order to allow for any potential brake force
reduction as the discs cool. Failure to do so may result in
the car rolling away and causing an accident in which you
or others may be killed or seriously injured.
To release the brake, pull up the lever, press and hold the
release button in the end of the handgrip, and lower the lever fully.
Before driving off, always check that the parking brake has been
fully released, as confirmed by the tell tale icon being turned off,
or damage to the brake system may be caused. Note that the parking brake uses a cable mechanism to
apply the rear brake calipers, and is totally independent of the
footbrake hydraulic circuit.
Driving Controls
70
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PARKING BRAKE LEVER
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