Maintaining your vehicle ensures it is safe for you and your passengers, as well as other road users. Regular maintenance also helps your vehicle run more efficiently, thereby reducing smoky emissions with the potential to affect our health and environment. Read on for advice on how to maintain your vehicle.
Parts of your vehicle you should check and maintain
Faults such as worn steering components, defective or bald tyres, spongy brakes or faulty headlights may make a motor vehicle dangerous to the driver, passengers or other road users. It is therefore important to ensure you vehicle is regularly checked, maintained and serviced.
Items that need to be checked regularly include:
- Tyres.
- Structural rust.
- Brakes.
- Lights.
- Steering.
Common indicators of faults
- Tyres – ensure your tread depth is 1.5mm or more, check the tyre pressure is correct, and check for damage to the tyre carcass.
- Brakes – check brake fluid levels are correct and seek an automotive professional's help if your brakes feel spongy, need to be pumped, or pull your vehicle to one side when applied.
- Lights – check that your lights work, do not have cracked lenses and that your headlights are correctly aligned.
- Steering – seek an automotive professional's help if your vehicle wanders, has excessive play in the steering or requires continual correction.
- Coolant, oil and windscreen washers – check your coolant, engine oil and windscreen washing bottle levels are correct, according to the vehicle manufacturer's specifications.
