Driving in the USA and Canada

Features Usually Found in Rental Cars

Adjustable Steering Wheels

Many rental cars in America and Canada have the facility to adjust the angle of their steering wheels. There is usually a release lever on the underside of the steering column which has to be pulled or pushed before the angle of the steering wheel can be adjusted. This lever is often close to the emergency flash control and could perhaps be confused with it.

Air Conditioning

Most if not all rental cars in the USA and Canada have air conditioning, which you're very likely to need in summer. You will need to close all the windows in order to make the air conditioning effective. The air conditioning control will often be marked "AC" or "A/C". In many cases two levels of air conditioning are available, labeled "Normal" and "Max".

Automatic Transmission

All normal rental cars in America and Canada have automatic transmission, which is very easy to get used to provided you remember that when in gear the car will creep unless you keep your foot on the footbrake.

Some automatic transmission "gear levers" are floor mounted, while in other cars they are on the steering column.

For those not familiar with automatic transmissions, the positions of the "gear lever" are:

In order to avoid damage, the automatic transmission mechanism will often not allow you to shift from D to 2 or 1 when you are traveling above a certain speed.

Central Locking

Central locking is common on rental cars, although this is usually operated by pressing a button on the inside of the driver's door rather than by turning the key in the door lock or by means of a remote control.

Cruise Control

Cruise control is commonly found on larger rental cars. When the cruise control is switched on the car will automatically maintain any desired steady speed, although this will usually decrease or increase to some extent as you ascend or descend hills. The slightest touch on the foot brake will cancel the cruise control; there is also a button on the cruise control itself to do this. If you accelerate, for example to overtake another vehicle, then the car will automatically return to the cruise control speed afterwards. On the wide open roads of America and Canada, with very low traffic levels, cruise control is a viable and useful facility. If you don't feel confident using the cruise control then you can just ignore it.

Electric Mirrors

Electric external mirrors are common. Controls vary, but sometimes you need to rotate the control clockwise or anti-clockwise to select which mirror to move, then use the control as a joystick to actually move the desired mirror.

Electric Windows

Electric windows are common on rental cars. Finding the controls and figuring out how they work can sometimes be a bit tricky, especially as you often need to lower the driver's window in order to show your rental agreement when exiting from the rental car depot immediately after picking up the car.

Hand brakes

Most rental cars have a pull up hand brake lever (called a "parking brake" in the USA and Canada) located between the front seats, as is found in the majority of UK, European and Japanese cars. However, in a few rental cars you may find the parking brake operated by pushing a foot pedal located under the dashboard, high up on the extreme left hand side, and released by pulling a handle also located under the dashboard. These parking brakes are only meant to be used when the car is parked on a steep slope - normally the pinion engaged when the "Park" position of the automatic transmission "gear lever" is selected is sufficient to act as a brake. By the way, using the automatic transmission Park pinion instead of the hand brake is the reason why you often see American and Canadian cars "lurch" a little after stopping, when the driver takes his or her foot off the foot brake.

Pedals

Since the rule of the road in America and Canada is to drive on the right, the driver sits on the left-hand side of the car. However, as with British cars the accelerator pedal is on the right, the foot brake pedal is in the middle and the clutch pedal (on manual transmission cars) is on the left.

Petrol Filler Cap and Boot Release

On a few cars the petrol filler cap is hidden behind the rear number plate, which hinges down to reveal it.

The controls for releasing the petrol filler cap and the boot from inside the car can be in the form of mechanical levers situated beside the driver's seat, or alternatively in the form of electrical push buttons located inside the glove box.

Power Assisted Steering

Power assisted steering is common on all but the smallest cars. If the car should stall, then the power to the power assisted steering will be lost. This can be very unnerving as the wheels become much harder to turn and you may easily be fooled into thinking that something catastrophic has happened to the steering mechanism.

Radio/Cassette Player

Almost all rental cars have a radio, and most medium and large rental cars have a radio/cassette player. Audio cassettes are completely compatible throughout the world.

Rear Window Wipers, Washers and Heaters

Since most rental cars are saloons with a separate boot, their rear windows are normally too shallow to have wipers or washers. However, the rear window is normally heated. If you are used to driving a European or Japanese hatchback with a rear window wiper and washer, the lack of these features will probably strike you as an extremely serious safety deficiency.

Safety and Warning Interlocks

Due to the very considerable car safety lobby in North America and the equally considerable risk of car manufacturers incurring heavy damages through class actions from people injured while driving their products, many American and Canadian cars have various safety and warning interlock systems, for example:

Seat Belts

On some cars the shoulder straps of the front seat belts automatically move out of the way when you open the doors and then move back to their normal position when the doors are closed.

Sun Shade

This is one accessory which won't come with the car but which you might consider purchasing. Sun shades are "concertina" folding cardboard devices which you put up inside the windscreen when the car is parked, so as to keep the internal temperature of the car down in summer. The other major advantage of such a shade is to keep the temperature of the steering wheel down to a level where you can bear to touch it after the car has been parked in the sun during the summer. These shades are widely available very cheaply at shops such as Walmart and K-Mart.

Sunroofs

Sunroofs are surprisingly rare on rental cars in the USA and Canada, probably due to the very genuine need for an opaque roof in order to shade a car's occupants from the sun during the summer.

Warning Sounds

A buzzer or chime may sound if the car's computer thinks that you need to take some action, for example: If you hear a buzzer or chime, always be sure to investigate the reason for it. 
Driving

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