How Failing To Maintain Your Car Can Cause Accidents
According to statistics, 278,063,737 personal and commercial vehicles were registered to drivers in the United States in 2021. In the same year, 91.7% of U.S. households had at least one vehicle, and 22.1% had three or more vehicles. These figures show just how much Americans place a high value on car ownership. If you are a vehicle owner, it is crucial that you treat your vehicle with care. Taking care of your car can help lengthen its overall life. Performing regular maintenance on your vehicle can help keep it in exceptional shape. Maintaining your car is also crucial to ensuring you stay safe. Failing to maintain your vehicle can result in you creating hazardous conditions for yourself and other road users.
What Kind of Car Maintenance Do You Need To Perform on Your Vehicle?
As a car owner, you can perform some routine maintenance tasks on your vehicle on your own at home with a few to no tools with the help of your vehicle’s manual and do-it-yourself information from reliable sources. These tasks include the following;
- Checking your tire pressure: You should check your tire pressure once every month, before heading out on a long trip or when your indicator light comes on. If tire pressure is less than what it should be, ensure you fill the tire with air. However, be careful when inflating tires. Ensure you keep tires at the pressure recommended by the manufacturer.
- Checking your engine oil: You should check your engine oil once every month, before heading out on a long trip, or when your indicator light comes on. If, for instance, the engine oil is low, ensure you replace the oil.
- Checking your cabin air filters: It is recommendable to check cabin air filters once or twice a year. Your vehicle’s manual contains information about which filters to buy and how to change them, so refer to it.
- Checking your windshield washer fluid: You should check your windshield washer fluid every two months or when it seems as if your car is running low.
- Replacing wiper blades: Do this once or twice a year or when the blades no longer work well.
Regarding maintenance tasks that you should let a mechanic help you with, the following are some of these tasks;
- Replacing fuel filters
- Checking and changing brake pads
- Radiator flushes
- Replacing spark plugs
How Can Failure To Maintain Your Car Cause Accidents?
If you fail to maintain your car, a malfunction could occur, resulting in a serious accident. The following are some of the things that can happen if a car is poorly maintained that can result in a crash;
- Tire blowout
- Tires becoming hard to handle because they are underinflated
- Brake problems, such as the brakes not working or braking too slowly
- Steering problems
- Car suddenly stalling
Legal Help Is Available
When poor vehicle maintenance results in an accident, the vehicle’s owner can be held liable for resulting injuries and damages. So if you get into an accident because of a poorly maintained car, you may be eligible for compensation. Our Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorneys at The Pendas Law Firm can help you with your claim.
The Pendas Law Firm also represents clients in the Miami, Orlando, Ocala, West Palm Beach, Daytona Beach, Bradenton, Tampa, Jacksonville, Naples, Melbourne, and Fort Myers areas.
Source:
forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/car-ownership-statistics/#department-of-transportation-federal:~:text=A%20total%20of%20278%2C063%2C737%20personal%20and%20commercial%20vehicles%20were%20registered%20to%20drivers%20in%20the%20U.S.%20in%202021.%20%5B1%5D
