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Dangers Of Driving In the Rain With Your Cruise Control On

Safe Driving, , , , , , , , , , ,

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I ran across this article on Facebook written by Gene Cobb a Driving Safety Instructor. I never really gave driving in the rain with your cruse control on too much thought. I do it all of the time…I’m not so sure I will now.

Excellent Driving Tip: Especially for the young drivers!

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago. It was raining, though not excessively when her car suddenly began to hydroplane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence! When she explained to the Police Officer what had happened, he told her something that every driver should know – NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON.. She thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain…. But the Police Officer told her that if the cruise control is on, your car will begin to hydro-plane when the tires lose contact with the road, and your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the Officer that was exactly what had occurred. The Officer said this warning should be listed, on the driver’s seat sun-visor along with the airbag warning. NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE ROAD IS WET OR ICY We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed – but we don’t tell them to use the cruise control ONLY when the road is dry. The only person the accident victim found who knew this, (besides the Officer), was a man who’d had a similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe injuries…

Now, this certainly made sense to me. However, I haven’t independently verified this, or have done much research outside of the article itself. That being said, I thought it was more important to relay this information to you with haste, because if it is accurate, it is certainly information that you need to know!

If you have more information, or feel that this warning is in accurate, please leave a comment below. The more we know about safe driving tactics, the better we will ALL be for it.

 

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Change Your Air Filter For More Engine Efficiency

Maintenance and Service, , , , , ,

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An often overlooked, but an extremely important component in keeping your engine running smoothly and efficiently is your air filter.

Here, we see a lot of need for air filter cleaning, or replacement. It can be hard to adhere to a specific time or mileage figure when a cleaning or change needs to occur, because the life of the filter depends on how much dirt and grime it ingests. We have seen filters that last 20,000 or even 30,000 miles on a vehicle that’s driven mostly on expressways but those same filters may last only a month or two in a rural setting where the vehicle is driven frequently on gravel roads. Changing your air filter annually, or every 15,000 miles for preventative maintenance may be a good recommendation for the city driver, but not its country cousin.

Regardless of the mileage or time, a filter should be replaced before it reaches the point where it creates a significant restriction to airflow. Interestingly, a slightly dirty filter actually cleans more efficiently than a brand new filter. That’s because the debris trapped by the filter element helps screen out smaller particles that try to get through. Eventually every filter reaches the point where it causes enough of a pressure drop to restrict airflow. Fuel economy, performance and emissions begin to deteriorate and get progressively worse until the dirty filter is replaced.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0nSeZcdVLM

If you think that your car could be performing better, or you don’t seem to be getting the gas mileage you believe you should, it might be time to change your air filter. Call Freeman Grapevine if you have any questions or need any assistance.