Safety Tips: Five Signs You Need to Park Your Car Immediately

One recent survey showed that 77% of surveyed cars needed maintenance or repairs. But there are quite a few auto maintenance services that aren’t urgent, and most repair technicians will be perfectly open about that fact. However, there are some warning signs you should always be on the lookout for that indicate you need to pull over as soon as you can do so safely and call for a tow to the closest auto repair shop. Here are five problems you can’t afford to ignore, even for a few minutes:

Temp or Oil Lights
A dashboard light coming on doesn’t always indicate a dire situation. But few things can wreck a car as quickly as overheating or low oil. You could ruin your engine literally in minutes if you don’t investigate and take the necessary steps.

Handling Changes
One of the many reasons to keep both hands on the wheel is that many different types of problems will trigger a change in the steering or handling of your car. It could be that you need new car tires, or it could be something relatively nonthreatening such as a lost wheel weight. But regardless, you should pull over and take a look.

Fuel Smells
You should never smell fuel in the passenger compartment of your car once you’re driving. If you do, pull over and ensure that the gas cap is in place. If it is and you can still smell gasoline, that’s a sign you shouldn’t drive your car until it’s been checked out by a professional.

Steam or Smoke
The difference between steam and smoke might not be immediately obvious. But both are signs that you need to pull over. If it’s steam, it’s probably a sign that your car is losing coolant. It might or might not be an emergency; however, since even a few minutes of overheating can cause thousands of dollars in damage, it’s not worth the gamble. If there’s smoke coming off your car, the problem is likely either a very small one or a very big one. It could just be a few drops of oil on a hot exhaust pipe, but it could be that something is about to catch fire. It’s certainly best to let the technicians at a nearby auto repair shop figure it out, and not take a chance.

Flames
This one should be fairly obvious, but bears repeating. Flames, no matter how limited, are a sign you need to pull over immediately and get a safe distance away from the car. Even if the flames aren’t burning you, the fumes can be toxic. And if flames reach certain parts of the car, there’s risk of an explosion.

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