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Steer me in the right direction!
Like shots deliberately fired to warn someone to stop what they’re doing, or not to trespass any further on private property—my vehicle’s warning lights captured my undivided attention like a deer in the headlights. The first one to appear out of nowhere indicated the windshield wiper fluid needed refilling through symbolism and text. The second warning light caused alarm, and I began to panic as I’m prone to do when anything mechanical is involved.
Mind you, it wasn’t long ago that I learned firsthand from the manual and otherwise that one of my tires had low pressure. I actually ended up with two flats in the same tire during one week.
Warning lights prophesize impending doom!
Suddenly, my trek to breakfast took on the significance of a pit stop for me to decipher a warning signal displayed on my screen. Sitting at the booth, sipping iced coffee while waiting for my order to arrive, I delved into the owner’s manual by consulting “warning and indicator lights” under “instruments and controls,” spanning pages 3-1 to 3 -108! I managed to locate the light in question symbolized by an exclamation point (!) What does it indicate? Low tire pressure!
But, I refuse to believe it because I distinctly recall the symbol resembling a candle, and it appeared on the odometer dashboard, not the screen. I see that the exclamation point also looks like it could be a “brake system warning light”. This, I’m inclined to believe as my vehicle is due for front and rear brakes in a couple of days, based on a previous inspection three months ago.
By now, I’m angry and cursing whom I’m assuming are male engineers who devised these symbols, because you can be sure a woman would have more compassion and sense to differentiate them so there’d be no confusion.
So, now it’s a toss-up. I’m gritting my teeth in contemplating low tire pressure as I don’t want to pay either for a plug, or God forbid--a tow. I’m also due for a brand new set of tires during this same maintenance appointment.
All the while I drive home, I see the same two symbols flashing. I dismiss the windshield wiper warning as mere child’s play, but am still worried about the other. I call the dealership and inform the desk person about these new developments, adding to my persnickety checklist. He corroborates my thought that it’s not one of my tires.
I read through the manual again, and now think the pesky indicator is in cahoots with the windshield wiper fluid. All of this cloak-and-dagger intrigue could be avoided by tech talk. I can put up with repetitious, robotic verbiage if it steers me in the right direction.
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enjoyed this well written article
A far cry from the old days when we had three blowouts in one week. In those days, women drivers had to be ready to change a tire in all kinds of weather conditions unless a helpful good Samaritan came along.
My pet peeve is the "check engine" light. It comes on quite often with no indication that my engine is having any trouble. But I've had to go to the dealer to have them, for free, reset my computer and reseal the gas cap that had been improperly put back on after refueling many times. What a waste of time and money!
My van was built in 2006 with a very high tech $90,000 driving system with voice controls for minor functions like wipers and signal lights. By the way, the voice control never worked well especially above 60 mph where interior noise exceeded a decibel level that made speaking to the microphone difficult. By 2017, at 11 years old, the software had developed a number of corruptions even with multiple backup files. So, my driving consisted of the pleasant woman announcing continually that my steering was failing or my brakes were failing when there was no such problem. A month ago, all those computers were removed and it's costing me to get the van back to the way it came from the factory with its annoying gas cap glitch still intact. ;-)
Ron