1994 GMC Sonoma Owner's Manual - Page 142

Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive in spurts - heavy acceleration followed by heavy braking - rather than keeping pace with traffic. This is a mistake. Your brakes may not have time to cool between hard stops. Your brakes will wear out much faster if you do a lot of heavy braking. If you keep pace with the traffic and allow realistic following distances, you will eliminate alot of unnecessary braking. That means better braking and longer brake life. If your engine ever stops while you're driving, brake normally but don't pump your brakes. If you do, the pedal may get harder to push down. If your engine stops, you will still have some power brake assist. But you will use it when you brake. Once the power assist is used up, it may take longer to stop and the brake pedal will be harder to push. Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS) Your vehicle has an advanced electronic braking system that can help you keep it under control. If your vehicle has an anti-lock brake system warning light on the instrument panel, it has four-wheel anti-lock brakes. Otherwise, it has rear-wheel anti-lock brakes. When you start a vehicle that has four-wheel anti-lock brakes and begin to drive away, you may hear a momentary motor or clicking noise. This is the ABS system testing itself. Here's how anti-lock works. Let's say the road is wet. You're driving safely. Suddenly an animal jumps outin front of you. You slam on the brakes. Here's what happens with ABS. A computer senses that wheels are slowing down. With four-wheel anti-lock: If one of the wheels is about to stop rolling, the computer will separately work the brakes at each front wheel and at the rear wheels. The four-wheel anti-lock system can change the brake pressure faster than any 4-6