Okay, this may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by how many people admit to being unaware of what the warning lights on the dashboard of their vehicles really mean. Now, the check engine light is a dead giveaway, but the other symbols can be confusing and may leave you less worried than you should, or more worried than you need to be.
Regardless of the situation though, it’s incredibly important to understand and know what each of those little lights on your dashboard (or with newer, state-of-the-art vehicles- your touch screen) really mean. The reason why we’re talking about this today is actually for a variety of reasons, chief among them being your safety and that of the other drivers on the road. Secondly, we want to make sure all of our CT auto insurance drivers are as educated as possible, because chances are, an educated driver is a safe and responsible driver, and we like those people a lot here at Paradiso Insurance.
In fact, I just read an article last night on a news site that reported close to half of drivers on U.S. roads have no clue what the ‘low-tire pressure’ light actually is. If you’re wondering what it looks like, here’s a hint- it’s at the top-left of this blog post. Now the reason why you may at first scoff at the seriousness of this light, here’s the real truth: low tire pressure is the cause in an estimated 200,000 accidents, 33,000 injuries and 660 deaths each year. I’ll let that sink in for a second.
So if this light does in fact come on, get over to an air pump immediately and fill those tires to the correct PSI recommended in your car manual. Here’s one more thing, the light typically is designed to come on when the tire(s) is 25% deflated, but you may not think it’s a necessary fix because you won’t really notice a difference in the look of the tire until it loses roughly 50% of its pressure. I’ll let that one sink in as well- don’t find yourself behind the wheel of a car with tires lower than 50% of its air… it’s just not smart.