WINTER DRIVING
Severe weather conditions in the winter result in greater wear and other prob‐
lems. To minimize the problems of win‐
ter driving, you should follow these suggestions: ❈ Snow tires and tire chains for the
national language (Icelandic, Bul‐
garian) see Chapter 11, Appendix.
Snowy or icy conditions
To drive your vehicle in deep snow, it
may be necessary to use snow tires or to install tire chains on your tires. If
snow tires are needed, it is necessary
to select tires equivalent in size and type of the original equipment tires.
Failure to do so may adversely affect
the safety and handling of your vehicle. Furthermore, speeding, rapid accelera‐
tion, sudden brake applications, and
sharp turns are potentially very haz‐ ardous practices.
During deceleration, use engine braking
to the fullest extent. Sudden brake ap‐
plications on snowy or icy roads may cause skids to occur. You need to keep
sufficient distance between the vehicle
in operation in front and your vehicle. Also, apply the brake gently. It should
be noted that installing tire chains on
the tire will provide a greater driving force, but will not prevent side skids.
NOTICE
Tire chains are not legal in all coun‐
tries. Check the country laws before
fitting tire chains.
Snow tires
If you mount snow tires on your vehi‐
cle, make sure they are radial tires of the same size and load range as the
original tires. Mount snow tires on all
four wheels to balance your vehicle’s handling in all weather conditions. Keep
in mind that the traction provided by
snow tires on dry roads may not be as high as your vehicle's original equip‐
ment tires. You should drive cautiously
even when the roads are clear. Check with the tire dealer for maximum
speed recommendations.
Do not install studded tires without
first checking local, state and municipal regulations for possible restrictions
against their use.
WARNING
nSnow tire size
Snow tires should be equivalent insize and type to the vehicle's stand‐ard tires. Otherwise, the safety andhandling of your vehicle may be ad‐versely affected.
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Driving your vehicle
• 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
• Turn the ignition switch to ACC so thesteering 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
nAutomatic transaxle
•If the car is being towed with allfour wheels on the ground, it canbe towed only from the front. Besure that the transaxle is in neu‐tral. Be sure the steering is un‐locked by placing the ignitionswitch in the ACC position. A drivermust be in the towed vehicle tooperate the steering and brakes.
•To avoid serious damage to theautomatic transaxle, limit the ve‐hicle speed to 15 km/h (10 mph)and drive less than 1.5 km (1 mile)when towing.
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•Before towing, check the auto‐matic transaxle for fluid leaks un‐der your vehicle. If the automatictransaxle fluid is leaking, flatbedequipment or a towing dolly mustbe used.
What to do in an emergency
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