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Driving your vehicle
Driving on grades
Reduce speed and shift to a lower gear
before you start down a long or steep
downgrade. If you don’t shift down, you
might have to use your brakes so much
that they would get hot and no longer
operate efficiently.
On a long uphill grade, shift down and
reduce your speed to around 70 km/h (45
mph) to reduce the possibility of engine
and transaxle overheating.
If your trailer weighs more than the max-
imum trailer weight without trailer brakes
and you have an automatic transaxle,
you should drive in D (Drive) when tow-
ing a trailer.
Operating your vehicle in D (Drive) when
towing a trailer will minimize heat build up
and extend the life of your transaxle.
CAUTION
• When towing a trailer on steep
grades (in excess of 6%) pay
close attention to the engine
coolant temperature gauge to
ensure the engine does not over-
heat.
If the needle of the coolant tem-
perature gauge moves across the
dial towards “H” (HOT), pull over
and stop as soon as it is safe to
do so, and allow the engine to idle
until it cools down. You may pro-
ceed once the engine has cooled
sufficiently.
• You must decide driving speed
depending on trailer weight and
uphill grade to reduce the possi-
bility of engine and transaxle
overheating.
WARNING
Failure to use an approved trailer
wiring harness could result in dam-
age to the vehicle electrical system
and/or personal injury.
