Page 151 of 277
143
C u p ho ld ers
Front
Rear
The cup holder is designed for holding
cups or drink–cans securely in its
holes.
CAUTION
Do not place anything else other than
cups or drink–cans in the cup holder,
as such items may be thrown about
and possibly injure people in the ve-
hicle during sudden braking or in an
accident.19T021
To secure your luggage, use the tie–
down hooks as shown above.
See “—Stowage precautions” on page 175
for precautions when loading luggage.
CAUTION
To avoid personal injury, keep the tie–
down hooks retracted when not in
use.
Tie–down hooks
Page 180 of 277
172Ti r e relat ed ter m
Meaning
Snow tire
a tire that attains a traction index equal to or greater than 110, compared to
the ASTM E
−1136 Standard Reference Test Tire, when using the snow traction
test as described in ASTM F −1805 −00, Standard Test Method for Single Wheel
Driving Traction in a Straight Line on Snow −and Ice −Cov er ed Sur f ac es , and
which is marked with an Alpine Symbol ( ) on at least one sidewall
Te s t r i mthe rim on which a tire is fitted for testing, and may be any rim listed as appropri-
ate for use with that tire
Treadthat portion of a tire that comes into contact with the road
Tread riba tread section running circumferentially around a tire
Tread separationpulling away of the tread from the tire carcass
Treadwear indicators(TWI)the projections within the principal grooves designed to give a visual indication
of the degrees of wear of the tread
Wheel−holding fixturethe fixture used to hold the wheel and tire assembly securely during testing
Page 183 of 277

175
When stowing cargo and luggage in
the vehicle, observe the following:
Put cargo and luggage in the lug-
gage compartment when at all
possible. Be sure all items are se-
cured in place.
Be careful to keep the vehicle bal-
anced. Locating the weight as far
forward as possible helps maintain
balance.
For better fuel economy, do not
carry unneeded weight.
CAUTION
When the rear seatbacks are in
the upright position—
To prevent cargo and l uggage
from sliding forward during
braking, do not stack anything
in the luggage compartment
higher than the seatbacks.
Keep cargo and luggage low,
as close to the floor as pos-
sible.
When the rear seatbacks are
folded down—
To prevent cargo and l uggage
from sliding forward during
braking, do not stack anything
in the enlarged luggage
compartment. Keep cargo and
luggage low, as close to the
floor as possible.
Never allow anyone to ride in
the luggage compartment. It is
not designed for passengers.
They should ride in their seats
with their seat belts properly
fastened. Otherwise, they are
much more likely to suffer
death or serious bodily injury,
in the event of sudden braking
or a collision.
Do not place anything on the
luggage cover. Such items may
be thrown about and possibly
injure people in the vehicle
during sudden braking or an
accident. Secure all items in a
safe place.
Do not drive with objects left
on top of the instrument panel.
They may interfere with the
driver’s field of view. Or they
may move during sudden ve-
hicle acceleration or turning,
and impair the driver’s control
of the vehicle. In an accident
they may injure the vehicle oc-
cupants.
Cargo and luggage—
—Stowage precautions
Page 190 of 277

182
Do not drive in excess of the speed
limit. Even if the legal speed limit
permits it, do not drive over 140
km/h (85 mph) unless your vehicle
has high–speed capability tires.
Driving over 140 km/h (85 mph) may
result in tire failure, loss of control
and possible injury. Be sure to con-
sult a tire dealer to determine
whether the tires on your vehicle
are high–speed capability tires or
not before driving at such speeds.
Do not continue normal driving
when the brakes are wet. If they are
wet, your vehicle will require a
longer stopping distance, and it
may pull to one side when the
brakes are applied. Also, the park-
ing brake will not hold the vehicle
securely.
Driving on a slippery road surface
Drive carefully when it is raining, because
visibility will be reduced, the windows may
become fogged−up, and the road will be
slippery.
Drive carefully when it starts to rain,
because the road surface will be espe-
cially slippery.
Refrain from high speeds when driving
on an expressway in the rain, because
there may be a layer of water between
the tires and the road surface, prevent-
ing the steering and brakes from oper-
ating properly.
CAUTION
Sudden braking, acceleration and
steering when driving on a slippery
road surface may cause tire slip-
page and reduce your ability to
control the vehicle, resulting in an
accident.
Sudden changes in engine speed,
such as sudden engine braking,
may cause the vehicle to skid, re-
sulting in an accident.
After driving through a puddle,
lightly depress the brake pedal to
make sure that the brakes are func-
tioning properly. Wet brake pads
may prevent the brakes from func-
tioning properly. If the brakes on
only one side are wet and not func-
tioning properly, steering control
may be affected, resulting in an ac-
cident.
Driving in the rain
Page 205 of 277

197
NOTICE
Your ground clearance is reduced
when the compact spare tire is
installed so avoid driving over ob-
stacles and drive slowly on rough, un-
paved roads and speed bumps. Also,
do not attempt to go through an auto-
matic car wash as the vehicle may
get caught, resulting in damage.
40T024
1. Get the required tools and sparetire.
1. Wheel nut wrench
2. Towing eyelet
(For emergency towing)
3. Jack handle
4. Spare tire
5. Jack
To open the luggage storage box, see
“Luggage storage box” on page 144.
To prepare yourself for an emergency,
you should familiarize yourself with
the use of the jack, each of the tools
and their storage locations.
40T026
To remove the spare tire:
1. Remove the spare tire cover.
2. Loosen the spare tire bolt and re- move it.
Then take the spare tire out of the
vehicle.
When storing the spare tire, put it in
place with the inner side of the wheel
facing up. Then secure the tire by re-
peating the above removal steps in
reverse order to prevent it from flying
forward during a collision or sudden
braking.
—R eq u ired to o ls an d sp are
tire
Page 206 of 277
198 The spare tire bolt is designed only
for a compact spare tire. Standard
size tire cannot be secured with it.
—Blocking the wheel
40T014
2. Block the wheel diagonally op-posite the flat tire to keep the
vehicle from rolling when it is
jacked up.
When blocking the wheel, place a
wheel block in front of one of the front
wheels or behind one of the rear
wheels.
—Loosening wheel nuts
40T015
3. Loosen all the wheel nuts. Always loosen the wheel nuts before
raising the vehicle.
Turn the wheel nuts counterclockwise
to loosen. To get maximum leverage,
fit the wrench to the nut so that the
handle is on the right side, as shown
above. Grab the wrench near the end
of the handle and pull up on the han-
dle. Be careful that the wrench does
not slip off the nut.
Do not remove the nuts yet—just un-
screw them about one–half turn.
Page 209 of 277
201
—Reinstalling wheel nuts
40T020
7. Reinstall all the wheel nuts fin-ger tight.
Reinstall the wheel nuts (tapered end
inward) and tighten them as much as
you can by hand. Press back on the
tire and see if you can tighten them
more.
CAUTION
Never use oil or grease on the
bolts or nuts. Doing so may lead
to overtightening the nuts and
damaging the bolts. The nuts
may loosen and the wheels may
fall off, which could cause a seri-
ous accident. If there is oil or
grease on any bolt or nut, clean
it.
—Lowering your vehicle
40T021
8. Lower the vehicle completely and tighten the wheel nuts.
Turn the jack handle counterclock-
wise to lower the vehicle.
Use only the wheel nut wrench to
tighten the nuts. Do not use other
tools or any additional leverage other
than your hands, such as a hammer,
pipe or your foot. Make sure the
wrench is securely engaged over the
nut.
Tighten each nut a little at a time in
the order shown. Repeat the process
until all the nuts are tight.
Page 210 of 277

202
CAUTION
When lowering the vehicle,
make sure all portions of your
body and all other persons
around will not be injured as
the vehicle is lowered to the
ground.
Have the wheel nuts tightened
with torque wrench to 103 N·m
(10.5 kgf·m, 76 ft·lbf), as soon
as possible after changing
wheels. Otherwise, the nuts
may loosen and the wheels
may fall off, which could cause
a serious accident.
Do not attach a heavily dam-
aged plastic wheel ornament.
It may fly off the wheel and
cause accidents while the ve-
hicle is moving.
9. Restow all the tools and jack se-
curely. Then secure the flat tire
in the luggage compartment
with the tire tie–down belts and
tie–down hooks as follows.
CAUTION
Before driving, make sure all the
tools and jack and flat tire are se-
curely in place in their storage
location to reduce the possibility
of personal injury during a colli-
sion or sudden braking.
1. Vehicles with aluminium wheelonly: Before stowing the flat tire,
remove the center wheel ornament
by pushing from the reverse side.
Be careful not to lose the wheel orna-
ment.
—Stowing flat tire