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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com

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Speaker 1: where smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question,

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Speaker 1: what do the break warning lights mean in my car?

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Speaker 1: Most cars have one or two break warning lights on

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Speaker 1: the dashboard. When you first start the car, all the

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Speaker 1: lights on the dashboard should light up. This is the

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Speaker 1: bulb check. They should go out in a few seconds.

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Speaker 1: If a light doesn't go out, then your car is

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Speaker 1: trying to tell you that there's a problem. If a

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Speaker 1: light does not light during the bulb check, it tells

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Speaker 1: you that you need to replace the bulb. Your car

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Speaker 1: illuminates the brake light to indicate one of two things.

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Speaker 1: Either your emergency brake is on and you release it

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Speaker 1: to solve the problem, or that you have lost break

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Speaker 1: pressure in half of the brake system. The brake system

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Speaker 1: is divided into two parts, each part trolling two wheels.

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Speaker 1: The goal is to lower the risk of a complete

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Speaker 1: brake failure. If one half of the brake system loses pressure,

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Speaker 1: the light comes on. Releasing your emergency brake is easy enough,

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Speaker 1: but what should you do If you've lost break pressure?

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Speaker 1: You should slowly and calmly pull over and stop. If

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Speaker 1: the brake system is completely failed, you'll have to use

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Speaker 1: the emergency brake for breaking. If the light stays on,

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Speaker 1: it means that the pressure on that one side of

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Speaker 1: the brake system is lower than on the other. There

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Speaker 1: are a couple of reasons why this could happen. There

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Speaker 1: could be a leak in one part of the system

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Speaker 1: making it impossible for one part of the system to

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Speaker 1: hold any pressure, or the hydraulic fluid could be low,

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Speaker 1: probably because of a leak. In either case, you should

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Speaker 1: have the car repaired before you try driving it again.

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Speaker 1: Cars with anti lock brakes have an amber or yellow

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Speaker 1: warning light which usually says ABS. If this light stays

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Speaker 1: illuminated after the bulb check, it means that there's a

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Speaker 1: problem with the anti lock braking system. The A B

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Speaker 1: S controller, which is a computer, will disable the system

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Speaker 1: and your brake should function as if you don't have

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Speaker 1: A B S. In other words, they'll work fine, but

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Speaker 1: you won't have the anti skid properties. In this case,

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Speaker 1: you can safely drive the cargo. A mechanic for service

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Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is

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Speaker 1: It How Stuff Works dot Com