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Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive in spurts
-
heavy
acceleration followed by heavy braking - rather than keeping pace with
traffic. This is a mistake. Your brakes may not have time to cool between
hard stops. Your brakes will wear out much faster if you do a
lot of heavy
braking. If you keep pace with the traffic and allow realistic following
distances, you will eliminate a lot of unnecessary braking. That means better
braking and longer brake life.
If your engine ever stops while you're driving, brake normally but don't
pump your brakes. If you do, the pedal may get harder to push down.
If
your engine stops, you will still have some power brake assist. But you will
use it when you brake. Once the power assist is used up, it may take longer
to stop and the brake pedal will be harder to push.
Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your vehicle has an advanced electronic braking system that can help you
keep it under control.
If your vehicle has an anti-lock brake system warning light on the
instrument panel, it has four-wheel anti-lock brakes. Otherwise, it has
rear-wheel anti-lock brakes. When you start a vehicle that has four-wheel
anti-lock brakes and begin to drive away, you may hear a momentary motor
or clicking noise. This is the ABS system testing itself.
Here's how anti-lock works. Let's say the road is wet. You're driving safely.
Suddenly an animal jumps out in front of you.
You slam on the brakes. Here's what happens with ABS.
A computer senses that wheels are slowing down. With four-wheel
anti-lock: If one of the wheels is about to stop rolling, the computer will
separately work the brakes at each front wheel
and
at the rear wheels. The
four-wheel anti-lock system can change the brake pressure faster than any
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