Before Driving Your Mazda; Driving Tips; Winter Driving- Page 127

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Before Driving Your Mazda

Driving Tips

Form No. 8S06-EA-03H

If you must rock the vehicle to free it from 
snow, sand, or mud, depress the 
accelerator slightly and slowly move the 
shift lever from D to R.

•

Carry emergency gear, including tire 
chains, window scraper, flares, a small 
shovel, jumper cables, and a small bag 
of sand or salt.

Ask an Authorized Mazda Dealer to 
perform the following precautions:

•

Have the proper ratio of antifreeze in 
the radiator.

•

Inspect the battery and its cables. Cold 
reduces battery capacity.

•

Inspect the ignition system for damage 
and loose connections.

•

Use washer fluid made with 
antifreeze—but don’t use engine 
coolant antifreeze for washer fluid 
(page 8-18).

•

Don’t use the parking brake in freezing 
weather as the parking brake may 
freeze. Instead, shift to P and block the 
rear wheels.

Rocking the Vehicle

Spinning the Wheels:
When the vehicle is stuck, spinning 
the wheels at high speed is dangerous. 
The spinning tire could overheat and 
explode. This could cause serious 
injuries. Don’t spin the wheels at 
more than 56 km/h (35 mph), and 
don’t allow anyone to stand behind a 
wheel when pushing the vehicle.

Too much rocking may cause engine 
overheating, transaxle failure, and tire 
damage.

WARNING

CAUTION

Winter Driving

J16R_8S06-EA-03H_Edition1.book  Page 9  Wednesday, July 9, 2003  4:19 PM