Anti-Lock Braking System. This system takes control of your brakes when it senses that your wheels might be locking up and skidding. The ABS rapidly applies and releases your brakes. The main benefit of this is to help give you steering control under heavy braking (when ABS activates it sounds surprisingly loud – like a fast banging noise).

Often labelled as AC, air conditioning provides cold air through the heating vents inside your car.

A highly effective safety device. Airbags are commonly found in steering wheels, in front of the front passenger seat and elsewhere in modern cars. When you have a crash, they immediately inflate, protecting you from hitting hard objects within the car and helping to slow your forward movement as safely as possible.

Car wheels made of aluminium, rather than steel. Main advantages include lighter weight and attractive styling. Mostly chosen for style reasons.

a socket into which you can plug in electric devices (e.g. mobile phone charger) within the car. Sometimes fitted in place of a cigarette lighter in newer cars.

Bluetooth is a radio system for connecting electronic devices at short range. Most commonly found in mobile phones, cars often have bluetooth fitted so that the driver’s mobile phone can connect to a built-in hands-free kit.

The brake calliper is the part of the brake that squeezes the brake disc

Each wheel of a car has its own brake. The most common type of brake used on modern cars is the disc brake. This is a rotating metal disc that is fixed so that it always turns with the wheel. When the brakes are applied, a clamp (called a brake calliper) squeezes the disc, slowing the rotation of the wheel.

Brake pads are the part of a brake calliper that meets the brake disc when the brakes are applied. The pads are made of a hard material that rubs smoothly against the metal disc and gradually wears down, needing replacing.

The cambelt, or cam belt, is a rubber belt that drives the moving parts inside the top of the engine. Sometimes known as the timing belt, cambelts have specified replacement intervals (see your car’s service manual) and it is very important to have your cambelt replaced on schedule. If your car’s cambelt breaks, it will instantly cause huge damage [..]