Chevrolet Spark Owners Manual: Braking

Chevrolet Spark Owners Manual / Driving and Operating / Driving Information / Braking

Braking action involves perception time and reaction time. Deciding to push the brake pedal is perception time. Actually doing it is reaction time.

Average driver reaction time is about three-quarters of a second. In that time, a vehicle moving at 100 km/h (60 mph) travels 20m (66 ft), which could be a lot of distance in an emergency.

Helpful braking tips to keep in mind include:

Keep enough distance between you and the vehicle in front of you.
Avoid needless heavy braking.
Keep pace with traffic.

If the engine ever stops while the vehicle is being driven, brake normally but do not pump the brakes. Doing so could make the pedal harder to push down. If the engine stops, there will be some power brake assist but it will be used when the brake is applied.

Once the power assist is used up, it can take longer to stop and the brake pedal will be harder to push.

Drunk Driving

Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a global tragedy. Warning Drinking and then driving is very dangerous. Your reflexes, perceptions, attentiveness, and judgment can be affec ...

Steering

Electric Power Steering The vehicle has electric power steering. It does not have power steering fluid. Regular maintenance is not required. If power steering assist is lost due to a system malfun ...

Other materials:

Front Fog Lamp Light
For vehicles with front fog lamps, this light, in the display on the top of the center stack, comes on when the front fog lamps are in use. The light goes out when the front fog lamps are turned off. See Fog Lamps on page 6-4. Lamps On Reminder This light comes on when the exterior lamps ...

Fog Lamps
If equipped with fog lamps, they are controlled by the band on the middle of the turn signal lever. To use the fog lamps, the ignition must be turned on and the low-beam headlamps or parking lamps must be on. Turn the band to to turn the fog lamps on. The band automatically returns to ...

Airbag Readiness Light
This light shows if there is an electrical problem with the airbag system. The system check includes the airbag sensor(s), passenger sensing system, the pretensioners (if equipped), the airbag modules, the wiring, and the crash sensing and diagnostic module. For more information on the airbag ...