Child Seats: Transporting Your Family Safely

With ever-changing car seat safety updates and growing kids, it can be hard to keep up with the best practices for safely transporting your family. There are certain facts and habits that can help your child arrive at their destination in comfort and security. Take a look below for our best ideas on traveling safely with your family.

Know the proper placement for a car seat

The safest place for a car seat is in the center of the backseat. Kids situated here in the center are less likely to be injured than those near windows. For families that have multiple car seats, it’s best to put one car seat in the center and the other next to it.

Know the proper time to update their car seat

Infants require a rear-facing car seat. A convertible seat with longer shells and slightly high rear-facing weight capacities will work well for transitioning kids from a rear-facing to a front-facing car seat. Depending on a child’s weight, the appropriate time to switch your child to a front-facing car seat is around age two. Recent studies have shown, however, that children under the age of 2 are nearly five times as likely to become seriously or even fatally-injured when in a front-facing seat.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends a rear-facing car seat, as it does a superior job of supporting a small child’s head and underdeveloped neck and spine. Rear-facing seats distribute the force of a collision over the entire body. Once your child reaches certain weight and height limits, a booster seat will be the best choice for transitioning out of car seats. Just ensure that you still use a harness and the proper safety restrictions. And remember that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommends that children ride in the back of a car until age thirteen.

Use car seat equipment appropriately

If your car employs a LATCH system (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children), use it to benefit the safety and security of your child. The LATCH system makes installation easier, tighter-fitting, and safer than it would be otherwise. Using the top tether of the car seat will especially limit the motion of the car seat and reduce your child’s risk of injury.

Clothing makes a difference. In the colder months, it’s important to understand the risk of putting your child into a car seat with a full jacket and outdoor winter clothing. Increasing the distance from your child’s body to the harness straps can make the safety and security of a car seat less effective.

For a safe journey, pick a car seat and a vehicle that will ensure best in security and safety for your family. To find the best car for your family, visit Kuehn Motors today.

Narrowing Down Your Options: Picking a Vehicle

Our last two blogs have focused on the best vehicles for college students and families. These two blogs talked about finding a car to fit your needs and budget. But really, when you are looking for a family vehicle, those factors still leave you with a lot of options. In this installment of our blog, we will spotlight a few options. Check out our guide below to help you search for the best vehicle for your family:

Best Sedan: Honda Accord

For a vehicle that is compact and delivers on both storage space and passenger comfort, the Honda Accord is a stellar steal! Interior highlights include dual-zone automatic climate control, Bluetooth connectivity, telescoping steering wheel, heated leather seats, and more. This car is a safe vehicle for families with features that include front seat side-impact airbags, antilock brakes, a backup camera, electronic stability system with traction control, and available LaneWatch system to show two lanes of adjacent traffic.

Best Minivan: Toyota Sienna

The best minivan on the market, the Toyota Sienna offers excellent seating capacity to fit the whole family plus all their sports gear, band instruments, bags, groceries, carpool group, and more. With traction control, brake assist, electronic stability, dual front impact airbags, and anti-whiplash front head restraints, the Toyota Sienna provides maximum safety and security for you and your cargo.

Best for Large Families and Teams: Buick Enclave

For a modern and mid-sized luxury vehicle, pick the Buick Enclave. This vehicle delivers in spaciousness, sophistication, and plenty of seating for your family. With all-wheel drive, a touch-screen display and USB port, emergency communication system, heated seats, interior air filtration, and SiriusXM Satellite Radio, this SUV delivers on technology, sophistication, and comfort.

Best Car for Your Teen Driver: Ford Fusion SE Sedan

Safe and teeming with efficiency, the Ford Fusion SE Sedan is a great pick your student driver. This car is easy to steer and maneuver and safe to drive. With high consumer ratings, this vehicle is the perfect fit for your new driver. It also makes for a great pick to send your responsible student off to college!

The search for a car that best suits the needs of your family can be a time-intensive and stressful process. Whether you need plenty of cargo space or want high-tech features to monitor teen drivers, use this guide to search the market for your dream car. Look to Kuehn Motors as another resource in your car search endeavors. For hours and to contact us directly at kuehnmotors.com.

Prepare Your College Student's Car for the New Semester

The new college semester has begun. Your student may have their dorm room decked out and their academic supplies all checked off, but have you taken a closer look at their car? College students can spend a lot of time in their car between the commute to campus, weekend trips, and journeys home. Make sure their cars are ready to drive safely with the following checklist:

Maintenance Check-up

A routine maintenance checkup will help your child’s car perform like it should on the road. Get everything from the brake pads and engine to fluid levels to airbags checked. Do the whole gamut to make it safe for those short rides from the dorm to the coffee shop or for those long rides home. Guarantee their safety by reminding them to get it routinely checked.

Teach Them About Car Maintenance

Even though help can be a phone call away, you don’t want your young adult to be without the skills necessary get them out of a pinch. Teach them how to change their own oil, how to change a flat tire, how to check tire pressure, when to take a car in for maintenance, etc. These essential skills will help them feel safer and more capable on the road.

Talk About Car Loans and Insurance

If your child bought their car or is in the process of doing so, talk about the responsibilities that come with it. Help them work towards financing a car on their own or developing good credit if they need an auto loan. This will be an excellent opportunity to help them understand financial responsibility before they head to the next phase of their life. Also, search for student discounts on car insurance for money-saving incentives.

Prepare an Emergency Kit

Emergencies happen. Prepare your student by having an emergency stash in their trunk. Keep an extra phone charger or battery, a first aid kit, reflective triangles, flares, a lighter, jumper cables, a flashlight with extra batteries, a multipurpose tool, a tow rope, water, snacks, and whatever else works for your climate. In the winter, pack extra blankets, warm clothing, a shovel, a windshield ice scraper/snow brush, and cat litter. This can seem like a lot, but being prepared for the worst will help your child in the event of an emergency.

If your family is in the market for a car for your student or is in need of a thorough service check, contact Kuehn Motors today.

Finding the Right Car to Fit Your Family

Shopping for and picking out a new car seems like fun, that is, up until the moment you need to make a commitment. With so many options out there, it can seem stressful finding the right car for you and your family. Your choice will likely stay with you for at least a few years, so it is a big decision. With a little research and planning, this task will not seem as daunting. Consider the following:

Assess Your Needs

This is very important to your overall decision.  Begin by considering the features you and your family truly need to narrow down your search:

●      How many passengers do you need to carry?

●      Are you going to be driving on the ice and snow?

●      Where will you be parking?

●      How much will it be driven?

●      Will you be pulling any trailers, campers, or other heavy equipment?

Decide on a Budget

Creating a budget is one of the most important aspects of buying a car. This involves reviewing all your monthly expenses to decide on the maximum amount you are willing to spend.  When you look at a car's price tag, remember to factor in the overall costs of the car. Consider insurance, upkeep, gas mileage and maintenance as well as the purchase price.

New or Used?

This decision might seem like it is solely based on your budget, but used cars have benefits, too. Brand new cars are a good investment much of the time, but they don't have the information and reviews available that used models have. If you do decide to purchase a car that has recently been released, wait a few months to check the reviews from owners.

Fuel Efficiency

Think about your daily routine. Do you travel on highways or city streets more often? Are you making long trips or short ones?  How far or often you regularly drive is a big factor in choosing a car. Larger models are good for hauling cargo (and more people at one time) but do not have the fuel efficiency of a smaller model. Then again, if you have a big family, you might need a second smaller car to accommodate your family's lifestyle. It all depends on your needs.

Before making a choice, test out a few different cars. Again, it is an exciting process, and you don't want to get wrapped up in one model.  After all, these are all important aspects of your decision.

While you are shopping for your new car, be sure to stop by Kuehn Motors. Our friendly and helpful staff will be more than happy to help you on your journey.

The Best Cars for College Students

Whether you are helping your child finance their first car or gifting your scholar with a car for graduation, your search for a car will likely revolve around cost-efficiency, fuel-efficiency, comfort, spaciousness, and maybe a little bit of fun. To help you on your search, check out our list of the best cars for college students below:

Chevrolet Equinox

Best for Space and Comfort

The 2013 Chevrolet Equinox LS SUV is an excellent option for music students carrying equipment, for the team sports captain lugging training equipment, and for the students who love to drive home multiple loads of laundry at Christmas break. An affordable crossover, this vehicle is spacious on the interior, compact on the exterior and comes with great amenities that include all-wheel drive, rear bench seats, and a V6 power engine.

Great for Fuel Efficiency

Our 2015 Chevrolet Cruze 2LT Auto Sedan boasts a high city and highway fuel economy in the 30 mpg range that is sure to save your college student on trips from home to campus and back again. Compact and modest, this car is an excellent starter car for your scholar.

Toyota Camry

Best to Take Them Through Grad School

If you are looking for the best in reliability and practicality, look to the 2014 Toyota Camry Sedan. User-friendly, this car is equipped with high-tech capabilities for entertainment and safety. With an especially quiet cabin, high safety ratings, and comfortable seating, you can trust the Toyota Camry to take your child from undergrad to their PH.D.

Hyundai Elantra

Best for the Recent Grad

If you have recently graduated and entered the workforce, there’s a good chance you want to splurge a little and treat yourself to a new ride. With a limited budget, what would be the best vehicle for you? Check out the 2016 Hyundai Elantra SE Sedan. Practical and affordable, this sleek car is excellent on fuel economy at 37 mpg on the highway. There’s plenty safety features including electronic stability, dual front impact airbags, and brake assist.

If a new car is on the back-to-school list this year, use our guide on the best cars for college students to make the smartest and most economical choice. We have new vehicles arriving daily, so visit Kuehn Motor Company to look at more options and to see what your best financing deals could be.

Your How-to Guide for Changing a Flat Tire

Flat tires seem to happen at the worst possible times. They are obnoxious, but with the right tools and method, you can fix a flat tire on your own and be on your way again. Read our how-to guide for changing a flat tire:

1. Be prepared. For on the road emergencies, your car should be supplied with a jack, a lug wrench, a fully inflated spare tire, and your vehicle owner’s manual. These tools, along with other essential car emergency items like a flashlight, gloves, a poncho, and a snow shovel, will be essential and will prevent an emergency situation from ruining the rest of your day. As another preventative measure, ensure that your tires (including the spare) are properly inflated at the right air pressure. Check tire pressure once a month and before you go on long trips with heavy hauls.

2. Secure your working area. Turn your hazard lights on as well as any additional reflective and flashing emergency lights to warn drivers of your presence. Don’t park on any curves or inclines. Don’t park on dirt, sand, or grass as your jack could become unstable in the soft ground. Turn on the parking brake as well as the emergency brake to prevent rolling, and stick a wedge (wood, a brick, or a large stone) beneath your tires to ensure your safety. If desired, you can take out your floor mat and kneel on the clean side as you work.

3. Use the sharp end of the lug wrench to remove the hubcap. Set it upside down on the ground to contain your lug nuts. Consult your owner’s manual throughout for reference.

4. Loosen the lug nuts prior to jacking up your car. This will make it easier to loosen the lug nuts than it would be while the wheels are spinning. Loosen the lug nuts to about ½ a turn without removing them completely.

5. Now is the time to place your jack. Place the jack under a solid piece of the car’s framework, not under the floorboards. It is likely that your car and owner’s manual have reference points for you to use.

6. Lift your vehicle off the ground with the jack. Lift the car so that the tire is only a few inches off the ground. Make sure the car is secure enough so that you can start working.

7. Unscrew the lug nuts and place them in the hubcap so that you won’t lose them. Remove the tire, gripping by the treads, and place it on its side so it doesn’t roll away.

8. Place your spare tire into the wheel well. Take note that many cars come with compact spare tires that are much smaller and need to be replaced shortly. Align it with the wheel bolts and add your lug nuts. Tighten the lug nuts by hand as much as possible.

9. Lower your car. Once on the ground, tighten the lug nuts to fully secure and prevent your tire from slipping off in the road, double checking your work. Replace the hubcaps onto your tire. Return all tools and emergency lights to your car.

Learning to change a flat car tire is an essential skill that is much easier than it looks. Learn other essential car maintenance skills as well as more vehicle information at Kuehn Motors.  

Car Maintenance You Can Do At Home

In our last blog, we talked about how prevention and maintenance are important for your car. In this installment, we want to show you a few simple maintenance tasks you can perform at home.

Changing the Air Filter

An air filter needs to be replaced every 12 months or 12,000 miles - whichever comes first. This fix only takes about 5 minutes and costs around ten dollars. To start, locate the filter under the hood of your car. (It’s a rectangular box with metal clips on the side.) Open the lid of the box, unclasp the metal clamps, and make a note of which way the filter is facing. Remove the old filter, and replace it with a new one. Close the metal clips when the filter has been replaced.

Changing the Oil and the Oil Filter

Switching out the oil in your car can be a slightly longer task, but it is still a money-saving fix that you can accomplish in under an hour. Before you start, remember to change the oil only when the engine has cooled off. Also, familiarize yourself with how to safely handle a car jack before you start. Once you are ready, unscrew the drain plug and empty the old oil into your oil pan. Replace the drain plug once the oil is drained. At the engine, remove the old oil filter with an oil filter wrench. Gently lubricate the rubber gasket on the new filter with fresh motor oil. Fill the new oil filter about two-thirds of the way with fresh oil. Screw in and high-tighten the new oil filter. Using a funnel, fill the engine with new oil. Using your car’s dipstick, double check the oil level. Discard the old oil and oil filter safely.

Replacing Windshield Wipers

Although the method can be slightly different from vehicle to vehicle, the process of changing your windshield wipers is still an easy one that you can accomplish in 15 minutes. While taking care to see how the old blades connect to the metal arms, lift and remove each windshield wiper blade. Being careful to not bend the new blades or scratch your windshield, insert your new blades. Line the blades up and tightly secure them to your windshield.

Replacing Spark Plugs

In need of replacement every 30,000 miles, switching out your own spark plugs can be one of the biggest money savers you can do at home. Locate the sparks which are attached to thick rubbery wires. Depending on how many cylinders your car has, you may find between four and eight plugs. In order to keep track of the order of spark plugs—integral to the function of your car—remove the wire to the first spark plug only. Use a spark plug socket and extension on your ratchet to remove the first spark plug. Install a new spark plug and tighten for a snug, but not overly tight fit. Reattach the spark plug wire, and repeat for subsequent spark plugs.

Performing your own car maintenance can save you money. While completing your own car maintenance can give you a sense of accomplishment, know when it’s best to seek the help of a professional. Don’t take on too big of a project if you don’t have the skill set; otherwise, you are at risk of injury to yourself and of damaging your car’s performance and function.

For other useful vehicle skills to master, learn how to change a tire, clean your headlights, and perform basic battery maintenance.

For more advanced maintenance, or if you simply don’t have the time, schedule an appointment with Kuehn Motors on our website.