15145 NE 90th Street RedmondLuke's Car Tips & Auto Maintenance Advice
Luke's posts regular blogs to offer you great information and advice about your car maintenance. Check back often for new posts. Search for a specific topic!
Luke Shaff
Antilock Braking System - (ABS)
When you press the brake pedal, brake pads come in contact with the discs attached to the wheels and stops the rotation of the wheels which will cause a frictional force between wheel and surface. During emergency braking, the wheels may get locked up and skid. When ABS is installed in the car, it detects when the wheels are going to lock up and uses a series of hydraulic valves to limit or reduce the braking on that wheel. This prevents skidding and allows you to maintain steering control.
Blind Spot
When you are driving a car, the area in either side of your car that cannot be seen in your rear mirror or side mirror is defined as a blind spot. To make sure these spots are clear before changing lanes driver must physically turn their head to the respective side and ensure the safety.
Braking Distance
The distance required for a car moving at a particular velocity to come to a complete stop after activating the brake pedal. Better to check your brake system to an expert in our area. check out “Seven Signs That You Should to Get Your Brakes Checked” for signs of brake system malfunction.
Coasting
Driving your car in a higher speed than the idle speed for your engine and then disengaging the engine from the wheels by setting the transmission or gearbox to the neutral position or disengaging through clutch, maintaining the engine in idle mode. You will have less control over your car while coasting and can lead to an accident.
Cornering
When you drive in a straight road the motion of the car is stable, but when it comes to driving in a sharp turn you must overcome a centrifugal force which you will handle by little oversteering in the apex part (middle area of a curve) and predicting the steering angle.
Cruise Control (CC) & Adaptive cruise control (ACC)
Cruise Control is an electronic device in your car that can be opted to maintain a selected constant speed by locking accelerator and take your foot off the pedal. You can use this control when it’s not necessary to stop frequently, turnings or other driving maneuvers. ACC an advanced technology to cruise control, which is also called as Autonomous cruise control or traffic aware cruise control. This automatically adjusts the car speed to maintain a safe distance from the car ahead.
Cubic Centimeters (CC)
Unit of Volume indicated to represent the volumetric size of the engine, i.e. volume covered by the stroke of the piston multiplied by the number of cylinders in the engine. 1200cc is essentially 1.2 liters engine.
Dual Zone Climate Control
Climate Control is a sophisticated form of air conditioning in the car which allows the temperature inside the car to be set accurately and in a controlled manner. Dual zone climate control allows a different temperature to be set on the driver and passenger sides of the car. Similarly, triple zone climate control has separate controls for driver side, passenger side and the 2nd row seats of the car.
Electronic Steering
Modern steering technique in most of the new cars which are very efficient in fuel consumption and accurate. This has an electric motor connected to the steering gear or column. A computer module gives direction accordance to the detected sensor torque and position of the steering column.
Horse Power (HP or BHP) and Torque
HP is unit of measurement for engine power. the higher the horsepower, the higher the vehicle's acceleration.
Torque is unit of measure of an engine power that indicates how efficiently/forcefully the crankshaft can rotate at a given speed. In other words it can be called as the pulling power of the car.
BHP vs Torque
Torque matters as much as horsepower because it’s the force you feel when you accelerate. If you regularly tow a trailer or carry a fully-loaded car, then having plenty of torque is important because it helps you pull your load onwards.
