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The distress you may suffer from your daily commute - quick stop/starts, thwarted surges, honking horns -- is nothing compared to what your car goes through. In fact, stop-and-go driving produces some of the hardest miles you'll ever put on your engine.

As you begin braking and honking your way through traffic, your engine is getting stuck in a different kind of gridlock. While you are sitting in traffic, idling the engine, the engine ventilation system is at its weakest. This helps keep acidic combustion products and incompletely burned fuel in your engine where they can form something you don't want - engine deposits.

Over time, these deposits may clog critical parts like fuel injectors, and interfere with the flow of fuel to the combustion chamber. You also might start to hear a "pinging" or knocking noise - a rattling caused by the hard deposits on your engine's surface. Continued knocking can eventually wear your engine out completely, sticking you with a costly repair bill.

Anyone who usually drives in heavy traffic or makes a lot of short trips should change their oil more frequently than a long-trip, steady-speed highway driver should. Look in your Ford owner's manual for "severe condition" recommendations.

Stop-and-go driving not only ages your engine, it also works on your brakes. If you notice a "grinding" sound or feel a grabbing or pulling to one side while braking, visit your Ford Dealer Service Department and have your brakes checked right away. Since regular maintenance is key to safe braking, it's a good idea to have the brake fluid checked with each oil change.

Finally, try to reduce your speed and follow the car in front of you at a greater distance to limit the amount of braking necessary - this also helps reduce braking-induced coffee spills and dry cleaning bills and improves fuel economy.

Stop-and-go driving may be a fact of life, but the damage it causes to your car doesn't have to be. By taking a few precautions and following a regular maintenance schedule, you can keep your car in good shape and stay ahead of the game - even if you can't stay ahead of rush hour traffic.