Safety features of your vehicle
23
You will find many safety precautions
and recommendations throughout
this section, and throughout this man-
ual. The safety precautions in this sec-
tion are among the most important.
Always wear your seat belt
A seat belt is your best protection in
all types of accidents. Air bags are
designed to supplement seat belts,
not replace them. So even though
your vehicle is equipped with air
bags, ALWAYS make sure you and
your passengers wear your seat
belts, and wear them properly.
Restrain all children
All children under age 13 should ride
in your vehicle properly restrained in
a rear seat, not the front seat. Infants
and small children should be
restrained in an appropriate child
restraint. Larger children should use
a booster seat with the lap/shoulder
belt until they can use the seat belt
properly without a booster seat.
Air bag hazards
While air bags can save lives, they
can also cause serious or fatal
injuries to occupants who sit too
close to them, or who are not prop-
erly restrained. Infants, young chil-
dren, and shorter adults are at the
greatest risk of being injured by an
inflating air bag. Follow all instruc-
tions and warnings in this manual.
Driver distraction
Driver distraction presents a serious
and potentially deadly danger, espe-
cially for inexperienced drivers.
Safety should be the first concern
when behind the wheel and drivers
need to be aware of the wide array of
potential distractions, such as drowsi-
ness, reaching for objects, eating,
personal grooming, other passen-
gers, and using cellular phones.
Drivers can become distracted when
they take their eyes and attention off
the road or their hands off the wheel
to focus on activities other than driv-
ing. To reduce your risk of distraction
or getting into an accident:
• ALWAYS set up your mobiledevices (i.e., MP3 players, phones,
navigation units, etc.) when your
vehicle is parked or safely stopped.
IMPORTANT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
Maintenance
52
8
Tire replacement
If the tire is worn evenly, a tread wear
Indicator (A) will appear as a solid
band across the tread. This shows
there is less than 1/16 inch (1.6 mm)
of tread left on the tire. Replace the
tire when this happens.
Do not wait for the band to appear
across the entire tread before replac-
ing the tire. The ABS works by comparing the
speed of the wheels. The tire size
affects wheel speed. When replacing
tires, all 4 tires must use the same
size originally supplied with the vehi-
cle. Using tires of a different size can
cause the ABS (Anti-lock Brake
System) and ESC (Electronic
Stability Control) to work irregularly.
✽ ✽
NOTICE
• We recommend that when replac-
ing tires, use the same which were
originally supplied with the vehi-
cle. If not, driving performance
could be altered.
• When replacing tires (or wheels), it is recommended to replace the
two front or two rear tires (or
wheels) as a pair.
Replacing just one tire can serious-
ly affect your vehicle's handling.
Wheel replacement
When replacing the metal wheels for
any reason, make sure the new
wheels are equivalent to the original
factory units in diameter, rim width
and offset.
A wheel that is not the correct size
may adversely affect wheel and
bearing life, braking and stopping
abilities, handling characteristics,
ground clearance, body-to-tire clear-
ance, snow chain clearance,
speedometer and odometer calibra-
tion, headlight aim and bumper
height.
OUM076204L
