Evening star., 1928-03-18
PETTY CAR ILLS
CAUSE ROAD CALLS
A. A. A. Finds Motorist Could
Solve Large Per Cent of
Troubles With Slight Care.

II analysis Of the emergency road
service records OF che OF the largest
motor clubs in the country reveals the
general attitude OF motorists toward
their cars. great progressive strides are
to be made in the elimination OF the
petty maladiess that delay and stall the
individual car owner.
This is the substance OF state
ment issued by national headquarters
of the American Automobile Associa.
ton, which points out that Indifferent
car care Is responsible for more than
so per cent Of the calls for emergency
assistance.
I'm making this analysis" the state
ment declares. the A. "A. A. has only
one end in view; namely. TO point out
10 car owners the advantages OF paying
closer attention TO certain fundamentals
Of car care. Certainly 1t Is not with
the idea OF curtailing its emergency
road service for the records OF motor
clubs show the effectiveness Of the con-
slant effort that Is being made to
broaden this form of club helpfulness." ="
Tire Troubles Lead.
The concrete way in which the anal
ysis shows that the motorist may bene-
At himself by greater attention to his
car starts with a discussion Of tire
troubles, which cause the greatest num-
Der OF s o calls
"Of $4,000 such calls for help re-
ceived by one large A. A. A. club. the
experience OF which may be taken as
typical, 252 per cent was due 10 tire
troubles" says the statement "A study
of these calls by service experts indi-
Gates that, beyond punctures, which are
almost inevitable at times. more than
so per cent Of the trouble Is due to con-
tinued running with tires that either
are overinfiated or underinfiAted,
mostly the latter. Of course"
Next 10 tire trouble comes battery and
ignition Ills. This accounts for 24.2 per
cent of the emergency service.
1T was found" the statement says.
that In a large majority OF cases the
car owner was responsible. In very few
instances could the trouble be laid 10
defective equipment 1t simply was a
case of the car owner forgetting TO
water the battery at regular intervals,
Of his failure to notice the corrosion or
terminal posts or Of his indifference 10
keeping the generator output propor-
ticnate to the needs Of his particular
form OF driving"
"Out- of Gas" Calls.
Third in Importance as a source OF
emergency service calls comes the
"can't-start" case, the records Of the
club show. Dirt In the caTburetor or
feed line. water somewhere In the fuel
system. disconnected choke rods. frozen
radiators and water iacket8all trou-
/ bieg about which the motorist should
have sufficient knowledge IN take the
necessary preventive steps had he the
inclinati0n-~are responsible for such
emergency needs, the statement points
out.
In spite OF the fact that the car man.
ufacturer and accessory maker have
produced vastly superior measuring de-
vices than ever before, per cent OF the
calls OF the club In question were OF
the "Out-0f-gas" variety. Motorists who
made requests for gasoline" service In
almost every case admitted shame
faceGlY that they simply did not pay
any attention 10 the meter even when.
In many instances 1t was Immediately
under theii eyes on the instrument
board,
These Instances indicate that the mo.
t0rist generally may reap an enormous
I advantage from paying just a little at
tention 10 certain fundamentals In the
| operation Df his car. the statement
points out Tire and battery care alone
would eliminate approximately so per
| cent Of the stalled by the roadside"
cases, II is concluded