Is it normal what my car is doing!?

The safety systems on the modern car really do require a great amount of education to understand! But who has the time to read the 500 page manual right???

We for one believe we should all have to do a driver safety course to learn and understand just what your car is capable of doing and what is considered normal and not normal?

It is not uncommon for a modern vehicle to:

• Shake the steering wheel to alert you
• Change your steering course
• Brake for you

And if you ever have to do an emergency brake or are accelerating in the wet it is not uncommon for:

• The brake pedal to pulse whilst activating ABS
• The engine to feel like it’s missing when reducing power to prevent slipping
• Or the accelerate pedal to change feel when accelerating.

Our advice – every car’s safety system is different 🙂 At least read what there is to know about these systems so when your car does something that feels different, you might know why it’s doing it.

Have a car question? Not sure if something is normal or not? Send us a question and we will be more then happy to help!

Question. Do you use your vehicles air-con throughout winter?

Did you read the first question and think to your self, “is Autoplus out of their mind?” If you did then its important to read whats coming next.?

To keep your cars air-con fit for the warmer months that are fast approaching, make sure you run your air-con a few times throughout the winter. This will prevent moving parts in the compressor from seizing and causing it to fail. Also by operating your air-con system it will circulate the refrigerant which will keep the seals throughout the system soft and pliant. So NO we’re not out of our minds, we’re just looking out for you. How many times has a hot day arrived and your air-cons let you down? Get your car summer ready!

Are your brakes keeping you safe???

Most would probably agree that your braking system is one of the most important features of your car – so do you know how to detect potential issues with your brakes?? ?
5 signs that show its time to get your brakes replaced NOW!

• If you step on the brake pedal and you can hear a high pitched squeal.
• If you can feel a vibration through the steering wheel as your car is slowing down to a stop.
• You can hear a grinding noise when braking (after you ignored the high pitch squeal)
• When you need to push on the brake pedal further than usual for the car to slow down or you need to brake from a much further distance to be able to stop in time.
• The car pulls left or right when coming to a halt.

If you can say your car produces any of the above symptoms we recommend getting it in as its important to us we keep you, your family and other road users safe.

If you have any brake related questions or would like to get your car in for a FREE brake check, hit us up!

Running on empty?? Check this out!

Welcome to our very first edition of our Car Tip Tuesdays. Be sure to check in each week for new tips and tricks for your car.

Your fuel gauge offers a good estimate of how much fuel you have left in your tank and if we don’t keep our eye on it closely we could get to the point where we run out of fuel. The thing is, we are probably all guilty of seeing the fuel warning light come on the dash at some stage and thinking to ourselves – hmm I think I’ll make it, it’s not that far but this is something that could potentially cost us in the future. You see your fuel pump is submerged in the bottom of your fuel tank and the weight of the fuel helps it to maintain its pressure and keep the fuel pump cool. If we run our car low or on empty on a regular basis this causes your fuel pump to work overtime and it will wear out quicker.

So next time your cars getting low on fuel, don’t wait for that little orange light before you fill it up and save yourself a fuel pump replacement in the future.