543
Driving your vehicle
More severe weather conditions of winter
result in greater wear and other prob-
lems. To minimise winter driving problem,
you should follow these suggestions:
Snowy or icy conditions
To drive your vehicle in deep snow, it may
be necessary to use snow tyres or to
install tyre chains on your tyres. If snow
tyres are needed, it is necessary to
select tyres equivalent in size and type of
the original equipment tyres. Failure to do
so may adversely affect the safety and
handling of your car. Furthermore,
speeding, rapid acceleration, sudden
brake applications, and sharp turns are
potentially very hazardous practices.
During deceleration, use engine braking
to the fullest extent. Sudden brake appli-
cations on snowy or icy roads may cause
skids to occur. You need to keep suffi-
cient distance between the vehicle in
operation in front and your vehicle. Also,
apply the brake gently. It should be noted
that installing tyre chains on the tyre will
provide a greater driving force, but will
not prevent side skids.
✽ ✽
NOTICE
Tyre chains are not legal in all countries.
Check the country laws before fitting
tyre chains.
Snow tyres
If you mount snow tyres on your vehicle,
make sure they are radial tyres of the
same size and load range as the original
tyres. Mount snow tyres on all four
wheels to balance your vehicle’s han-
dling in all weather conditions. Keep in
mind that the traction provided by snow
tyres on dry roads may not be as high as
your vehicle's original equipment tyres.
You should drive cautiously even when
the roads are clear. Check with the tyre
dealer for maximum speed recommen-
dations.
Do not install studded tyres without first
checking local, state and municipal regu-
lations for possible restrictions against
their use.
WINTER DRIVING
WARNING- Snow tyre size
Snow tyres should be equivalent in
size and type to the vehicle's stan-
dard tyres. Otherwise, the safety
and handling of your vehicle may
be adversely affected.
OBH058040
Use a towing strap less than 5 m (16
feet) long. Attach a white or red cloth
(about 30 cm (12 inches) wide) in the
middle of the strap for easy visibility.
Drive carefully so that the towing strap
is not loosened during towing.
Emergency towing precautions
Place the ignition switch in ACC so the
steering wheel isn’t locked.
Place the transaxle shift lever in N
(Neutral).
Release the parking bake.
Press the brake pedal with more force
than normal since you will have
reduced brake performance.
More steering effort will be required
because the power steering system
will be disabled.
If you are driving down a long hill, the
brakes may overheat and brake per-
formance will be reduced. Stop often
and let the brakes cool off.CAUTION - Automatic
transaxle
If the car is being towed with all
four wheels on the ground, it can
be towed only from the front. Be
sure that the transaxle is in neu-
tral. Be sure the steering is
unlocked by placing the ignition
switch in the ACC position. A
driver must be in the towed vehi-
cle to operate the steering and
brakes.
To avoid serious damage to the
automatic transaxle, limit the
vehicle speed to 15 km/h (10 mph)
and drive less than 1.5 km (1
mile) when towing.
Before towing, check the level of
the automatic transaxle fluid. If it
is below the "HOT" range on the
dipstick, add fluid. If you cannot
add fluid, a towing dolly must be
used.
OPA067014
630
What to do in an emergency
