The Vehicle Controls

The Driving position

A suitable driving position would be best described as being able to:

• Reach and use each of the controls both comfortably and with ease.
• Being able to have a solid two handed grip on the steering wheel with no restriction to your elbows and your arms in a relaxed position
• The visibility of the road ahead is clear.

Your driving seat should move both backwards and forwards and the angle of the back of the seat adjustable. You should avoid sitting too close to the dashboard and the steering wheel and before you commence any journey you should position yourself properly whilst stationary.

On some vehicles you will find that the steering wheel column can be adjusted to suit you also, when you make any adjustment to the angle of the steering column ensure that it does not obscure your view of the instrument panel.

Head restraints are a vital part of comfort and they prevent whiplash and possible spinal injuries, the rigid part of the head restraint needs to be close to the back of your head and level with your eyes and ears. The seat belt needs also to be adjusted properly with the belt low over the hips and on the chest over the shoulder.

The Foot Controls

The accelerator or the gas pedal is on the right of the group of 3 floor pedals, the accelerator actually controls the rate at which both fuel and air are mixed into the engine. The more you press the accelerator the more the fuel is released into the engine generating more power and a higher engine speed.

As a driver you will learn to feel what the right amount of pressure is required on the accelerator to make the car move with stalling or lurching uncomfortably forward.

The footbrake is also operated by the right foot as neither pedal shouldn't ever be needed to be used at the same time, it is positioned in the middle of the three pedals making the transition from one to the other easy. The footbrake slows the vehicle down and the more pressure is placed on the pedal the more it will slow down. Again like the accelerator the driver will learn to apply the appropriate pressure to slow the vehicle down smoothly and safely. Braking gently first then slowly applying more pressure is known as progressive braking. A lot of modern vehicles are fitted with an anti-lock braking system or ABS, this drivers aid prevents the wheels from locking so that the vehicle can still be steered during braking.

The clutch pedal is located on the left and operated by the left foot, the clutch connects the engine and the gearbox. The clutch separates the two clutch plates one connected to the gearbox and the other to the engine, when changing gear the two plates make contact and place a kload on the engine, this is commonly known as the biting point. The control of this biting point is the clutch control that can make the movement of the vehicle either smooth or jerky

The Hand Controls

The steering wheel is normally controlled by both hands and is used to control the direction of the vehicle, it controls the steering mechanism which changes the direction of either the fron or rear wheels or in the case of 4 wheel drive vehicles all of them. To best control the vehicle then both hands should be kept on the steering wheels unless changing gear and your grip should be firm but not overly tight.

The angle through which you turn the steering wheel is known as the steering lock, not to be confused with the mechanism that locks the steering column when the ignition key is removed.

Don't Forget!

Do not take your hands off the steering wheel whilst the vehicle is moving.

The gear lever is normally on the left hand side of the driver, usually from the floor on a console. The gear lever enables the driver to change from one gear to another, the lever is attached to the gearbox which controls the direct relationship between the speed of the engine and the road speed of the car. The first gear delivers the greatest force enabling the vehicle to move from a standstill, as the driver moves up through the gears the force gets smaller but the road speed greater.Most modern cars have 5 forward gears and one reverse.

The handbrake or parking brake is normally positioned behind the gear lever and it's function is to hold the vehicle in place when it is stationary. In a lot of cars the hand brake operates on the rear wheels, it should not be applied whilst the vehicle is moving as this may force the car to skid. Normally there is a button at the top of the handle that needs to be depressed to release the brake, a sharp upward pull will apply the hand brake whilst a releasing to its original flat position will unlock the brake.