Vehicle Options, Extras And Accessories
What does "standard equipment" mean?
Standard equipment refers to the base model of the vehicle and the equipment it comes with. It may mean something like power windows. It may mean air conditioning. It may mean what level of radio. In the standard equipment scenario, it would probably mean the base radio, so it would be maybe a single CD player as opposed to a multidisc player, the lowest power rating as opposed to the high power with lots of speakers. So, standard equipment is going to be the entry point of that vehicle before you start addng options.
What is "cruise control"?
Cruise control is a system that's built into many vehicles now that allows you to set the maximum speed of a particular vehicle while you're driving down the road. If traffic is flowing along at sixty miles per hour, you can set sixty as your top speed, and it will flow along at that speed, keeping up with the rest of traffic. A couple key advantages are, if you're not fluctuating your speed to a great degree, you're going to get better fuel economy because you're not going to be constantly having to adjust that throttle position. And secondly, it also provides less wear and tear on your leg. Sometimes, your foot and your ankle can get tired from having to hold that particular position on the accelerator pedal. This will allow you to pull your foot back and be much more relaxed when you're driving long distances.
What is "adaptive cruise control"?
Adaptive cruise control is a new or high tech system, usually found on luxury cars today, but eventually is going to trickle its way down into, probably, all vehicles.The way this works is it uses a radar or sonar sensor built into the front of the vehicle to maintain a certain predetermined distance from the car ahead of you in the lane.So you set the speed that you want to go as well as the cushion, or space, between you and the car ahead of you. And the car will then automatically not only maintain that speed, but then maintain that cushion. If the car ahead slows down, your car will automatically slow down as well . If the car ahead speeds up, your car will automatically speed up to the limit of the speed you set in the machine. One of the key advantages is that it provides a much more balanced driving environment; everybody's keeping a fair cushion from the car ahead of them, so it keeps everybody flowing at a much more common rate of speed and therefore, a much more balanced and comfortable driving experience.
What are "air bags"?
With regards to vehicle options, extras and accessories, airbags are systems that have become very common in just about every vehicle that's produced and sold on the road today. Airbags are a small charge which in the event of an impact, automatically sends a gas charge into a bag. Airbags are found inside the steering wheel, on the front dash of the vehicle, or now in the sides of the vehicle. This bag then inflates and blows out to help fill out some of the space in the passenger compartment. The advantage of this is that it's much better to take this cushion into the face, as opposed to putting your face into the steering wheel, or against the side glass.
What are "anti-lock brakes" and how do they work?
Anti-lock brakes are a great safety advancement, which started off as just being a feature on real high-end or luxury type vehicles, and has now trickled down to being on probably 95% of all vehicles. Anti-lock brakes work with a computer system that modulates the wheel spin, and when you apply the brakes, it automatically controls at what rate the brakes are applied. People who have been driving for a long time know that to truly panic stop, you don't just put the pedal to the floor, you actually modulate it yourself and put the brake on, off, on, off, on, off, as fast as you can. That is basically the theory of anti-lock braking, but in this case you've got the computer control system modulating that braking pressure at thousands of times per second. Anti-lock brakes would be idenitified in the owner's manual of the vehicle, as well as on the sticker at the time of purchase. One of the most important things if your verhicle has anti-lock brakes is to know that you have to actually fight your first impulse to pulse them yourself. If your car has anti-lock brakes and you're coming to a scary situation where you need to stop, pedal to the floor, and let the vehicle do the stopping for you.
What is "brake assist" and how does it work?
In essence, a brake assist system will preload the brakes such that when you put a full panic stop down on the pedal, it will allow the maximum braking pressure to be applied as soon as possible. So it turns an average driver into a race driver in regards to their reaction time.
What is "electronic stability control" (ESC)?
Electronic stability control systems are somewhat newer in the automotive industry and became very popular in SUVs because of their ability to help minimize rollover opportunities. The way this system works is, it uses the anti-lock braking system that's built into many vehicles and applies braking in accordance to what the vehicle is doing. It has a sensor, or what's known as a yaw sensor, which identifies if the vehicle is leaning one direction or another, what position the steering wheel is in and how fast of rate of speed the vehicle is going. It then applies maximum braking pressure to the wheel which will do the most assistance to bring the car back into shape. The beautiful thing about these sytems is that they are monitoring you and your vehicle and your driving habits at all times. Hopefully, you never need these systems and you're never put in a place of peril but it's good to know that they're there, that they're always watching your driving habits, and always at the ready in case you need to make an evasive maneuver.
What is meant by the term "load capacity"?
With regards to vehicle options, extras and accessories, the term ‘load capacity' is normally used in regards to pickup trucks or SUV's; larger vehicles which are going to be asked to carry a great amount of cargo. Load capacity helps to identify the vehicles as half ton, three quarter ton or one ton trucks, depending on their ability to carry these larger loads.
What is a "blind spot" on a car?
Blind spots are very common, and a real risk when driving just about any car on the road. Blind spots are a section in the rear of the vehicle which you cannot see very easily from the rear view mirror, and because of the construction of the vehicle, there may be a pillar or a metal section of the car, such that it's blocking your vision if you actually look over your shoulder to glance in that area. It's an area that needs a lot of attention and care when you're driving on the road. A new safety technology, pioneered by some of the more luxury brands, are blind spot detection systems. What these use are small cameras built into the rear view mirrors that monitor the blind spots that are difficult to see visually, and if you start to make a move into that lane where there potentially is a vehicle sitting there that you haven't seen, it will initiate a beep, possibly flash a light on the dash, to make sure you're aware that there is something in that area before you pull into its way.
Where can I find the listed options and accessories on a vehicle I'm thinking of buying?
The accessories can be identified in a small sticker, usually just to the side of the required Monroney sticker. In this section it will identify the accessories that the dealer has taken the opportunity to pre-install on the vehicle before you even looked at it. These functions, while they can be nice things--maybe better wheels or a better stereo--is attractive to you as the buyer, they are often a key point of higher profitability for the dealer as well, and sometimes make you buy something you're really not interested in because it would take more work and more time to remove those accessories. It's something to consider that if you're looking at a particular vehicle are the dealer-installed options something you're really interested in.
