Ignorance is bills - drivers fail to tell battery from bonnet

One in six British drivers cannot identify the main components found under the bonnet of an average car. Photo / Thinkstock

Do you know your dipstick from your coolant? One in six British drivers cannot identify a single one of the main components found under the bonnet of an average car.

A roadside assessment of drivers' knowledge revealed widespread ignorance of the components required for basic vehicle maintenance.

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Many fell at the first hurdle with 12 per cent of drivers unable to open the bonnet of their own car. And 36 per cent of those who took part in the study, commissioned by LV Road Rescue, could not correctly identify where to put the brake fluid, while a quarter couldn't find the engine coolant.

Pinpointing the oil filler cap stumped 10 per cent.

The most simple parts confused many motorists, with some unable to identify the oil dipstick (7 per cent) or battery (7 per cent).

The only parts that more than half of motorists could correctly pinpoint were the windscreen washer reservoir (52 per cent); the oil filler cap (61 per cent) and the bonnet catch itself (63 per cent).

Drivers who took tests before the "Show Me Tell Me" aspect was introduced in 2003 to help candidates learn the basics proved better at identifying parts under a bonnet than those who took the new test element.

Two-fifths of motorists said they don't do any checks on a regular basis, which can lead to car damage or a breakdown. LV Road Rescue said that not maintaining a car properly, for example by running an engine without coolant, could lead to very expensive problems.

Car manufacturers aren't helping motorists find what they're looking for. The researchers looked at 16 of the most popular current models and found that engine oil filler cap, oil dipstick, engine coolant, and windscreen washer cap positions varied considerably.

-Independent