Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drivein spurts — heavy acceleration followed byheavy braking — rather than keeping pace withtraffic. This is a mistake. The brakes maynot have time to cool between hard stops. Thebrakes will wear out much faster if you do a lot ofheavy braking. If you keep pace with the trafficand allow realistic following distances, youwill eliminate a lot of unnecessary braking. Thatmeans better braking and longer brake life.If your vehicle’s engine ever stops while you aredriving, brake normally but do not pump thebrakes. If you do, the pedal may get harder topush down. If the engine stops, you will still havesome power brake assist. But you will use itwhen you brake. Once the power assist is usedup, it may take longer to stop and the brake pedalwill be harder to push.Adding non-GM accessories can affect yourvehicle’s performance. See Accessories andModifications on page 332.Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS)Your vehicle has the Anti-Lock Brake System(ABS), an advanced electronic braking systemthat will help prevent a braking skid.When you start your engine and begin to driveaway, ABS will check itself. You may hear amomentary motor or clicking noise while this testis going on, and you may even notice thatyour brake pedal moves a little. This is normal.If there is a problemwith ABS, this warninglight will stay on.See Anti-Lock BrakeSystem WarningLight on page 198.293
