roof CADILLAC ESCALADE ESV 2009 Owners Manual

Seats and Restraint System ............................. 1-1
Head Restraints
......................................... 1-2
Front Seats
............................................... 1-3
Rear Seats
.............................................. 1-10
Safety Belts
............................................. 1-30
Child Restraints
....................................... 1-52
Airbag System
......................................... 1-79
Restraint System Check
............................ 1-95
Features and Controls ..................................... 2-1
Keys
........................................................ 2-3
Doors and Locks
...................................... 2-10
Windows
................................................. 2-17
Theft-Deterrent Systems
............................ 2-21
Starting and Operating Your Vehicle
........... 2-24
Mirrors
.................................................... 2-40
Object Detection Systems
.......................... 2-42
OnStar ®
System
...................................... 2-52
Universal Home Remote System
................ 2-55
Storage Areas
......................................... 2-62
Sunroof
.................................................. 2-65 Instrument Panel ............................................. 3-1
Instrument Panel Overview
.......................... 3-4
Climate Controls
...................................... 3-27
Warning Lights, Gages, and Indicators
........ 3-33
Driver Information Center (DIC)
.................. 3-47
Audio System(s)
....................................... 3-75
Navigation System .......................................... 4-1
Overview
.................................................. 4-2
Features and Controls
.............................. 4-13
Navigation Audio System
........................... 4-62
Voice Recognition
.................................... 4-86
Driving Your Vehicle ....................................... 5-1
Your Driving, the Road, and the Vehicle
....... 5-2
Towing
................................................... 5-40
Service and Appearance Care .......................... 6-1
Service
..................................................... 6-3
Fuel
......................................................... 6-5
Checking Things Under the Hood
............... 6-12
All-Wheel Drive
........................................ 6-45
Rear Axle
............................................... 6-462009 Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual
M

If the airbag is off, the off indicator in the passenger
airbag status indicator will come on and stay on when
the vehicle is started.
If a child restraint has been installed and the on
indicator is lit, see “If the On Indicator is Lit for a Child
Restraint” under Passenger Sensing System on
page 1-87 for more information.
To remove the child restraint, unbuckle the vehicle
safety belt and let it return to the stowed position.
Airbag System The vehicle has the following airbags:
A frontal airbag for the driver.
A frontal airbag for the right front passenger.
A roof-rail airbag for the driver and the passenger
seated directly behind the driver.
A roof-rail airbag for the right front passenger and
the passenger seated directly behind the right
front passenger. The vehicle may have the following airbags:
If your vehicle has a third row seat, it will have third
row roof-rail airbags.
All of the airbags in your vehicle will have the word
AIRBAG embossed in the trim or on an attached label
near the deployment opening.
For frontal airbags, the word AIRBAG will appear on the
middle part of the steering wheel for the driver and
on the instrument panel for the right front passenger.
With roof-rail airbags, the word AIRBAG will appear
along the headliner or trim.
Airbags are designed to supplement the protection
provided by safety belts. Even though today’s airbags
are also designed to help reduce the risk of injury
from the force of an inating bag, all airbags must inate
very quickly to do their job.
1-79

Here are the most important things to know about the
airbag system:
{ CAUTION: You can be severely injured or killed in a crash if
you are not wearing your safety belt — even if you
have airbags. Airbags are designed to work with
safety belts, but do not replace them. Also, airbags
are not designed to deploy in every crash. In some
crashes safety belts are your only restraint. See
When Should an Airbag Inflate? on page 1-84 .
Wearing your safety belt during a crash helps
reduce your chance of hitting things inside the
vehicle or being ejected from it. Airbags are
“supplemental restraints” to the safety belts.
Everyone in your vehicle should wear a safety belt
properly — whether or not there is an airbag for that
person. { CAUTION: Airbags inate with great force, faster than the
blink of an eye. Anyone who is up against, or very
close to, any airbag when it inates can be
seriously injured or killed. Do not sit unnecessarily
close to the airbag, as you would be if you were
sitting on the edge of your seat or leaning forward.
Safety belts help keep you in position before and
during a crash. Always wear your safety belt, even
with airbags. The driver should sit as far back
as possible while still maintaining control of the
vehicle.
Occupants should not lean on or sleep against the
door or side windows in seating positions with
roof-rail airbags.
1-80

The right front passenger’s frontal airbag is in the
instrument panel on the passenger’s side.
The roof-rail airbags for the driver, right front passenger,
and second row outboard passengers are in the
ceiling above the side windows. Driver Side shown, Passenger Side similar
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If your vehicle has roof-rail airbags and a third row
passenger seat, the airbags are located in the ceiling
above the rear windows for the outboard passenger
positions in the third row. { CAUTION: If something is between an occupant and an
airbag, the airbag might not inate properly or it
might force the object into that person causing
severe injury or even death. The path of an
inating airbag must be kept clear. Do not put
anything between an occupant and an airbag, and
do not attach or put anything on the steering
wheel hub or on or near any other airbag
covering.
Never secure anything to the roof of a vehicle with
roof-rail airbags by routing a rope or tie down
through any door or window opening. If you do,
the path of an inating roof-rail airbag will be
blocked.Driver Side shown, Passenger Side similar
1-83

When Should an Airbag Inate? Frontal airbags are designed to inate in moderate to
severe frontal or near-frontal crashes to help reduce the
potential for severe injuries mainly to the driver’s or
right front passenger’s head and chest. However, they
are only designed to inate if the impact exceeds a
predetermined deployment threshold. Deployment
thresholds are used to predict how severe a crash is
likely to be in time for the airbags to inate and
help restrain the occupants.
Whether your frontal airbags will or should deploy is not
based on how fast your vehicle is traveling. It depends
largely on what you hit, the direction of the impact,
and how quickly your vehicle slows down.
Frontal airbags may inate at different crash speeds.
For example:
If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbags
could inate at a different crash speed than if the
vehicle hits a moving object.
If the vehicle hits an object that deforms, the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed than
if the vehicle hits an object does not deform.
If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole), the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle hits a wide object (like a wall). If the vehicle goes into an object at an angle, the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle goes straight into the object.
Thresholds can also vary with specic vehicle design.
Frontal airbags are not intended to inate during vehicle
rollovers, rear impacts, or in many side impacts.
In addition, your vehicle has dual-stage frontal airbags.
Dual-stage airbags adjust the restraint according to
crash severity. Your vehicle has electronic frontal
sensors, which help the sensing system distinguish
between a moderate frontal impact and a more severe
frontal impact. For moderate frontal impacts, dual-stage
airbags inate at a level less than full deployment.
For more severe frontal impacts, full deployment occurs.
Your vehicle has a seat position sensor which enables
the sensing system to monitor the position of the driver’s
seat. The seat position sensor provides information
that is used to determine if the airbags should deploy at
a reduced level or at full deployment.
Your vehicle has roof-rail airbags. See Airbag System
on page 1-79 . Roof-rail airbags are intended to inate in
moderate to severe side crashes. In addition, these
roof-rail airbags are intended to inate during a rollover
or in a severe frontal impact. Roof-rail airbags will
inate if the crash severity is above the system’s
designed threshold level. The threshold level can vary
with specic vehicle design.
1-84

Roof-rail airbags are not intended to inate in rear
impacts. Both roof-rail airbags will deploy when either
side of the vehicle is struck, or if the sensing system
predicts that the vehicle is about to roll over, or in
a severe frontal impact.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an
airbag should have inated simply because of the
damage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs
were. For frontal airbags, ination is determined by
what the vehicle hits, the angle of the impact, and how
quickly the vehicle slows down. For roof-rail airbags,
deployment is determined by the location and severity of
the side impact. In a rollover event, roof-rail airbag
deployment is determined by the direction of the roll.
What Makes an Airbag Inate? In a deployment event, the sensing system sends an
electrical signal triggering a release of gas from the
inator. Gas from the inator lls the airbag causing the
bag to break out of the cover and deploy. The inator, the
airbag, and related hardware are all part of the airbag
module.
Frontal airbag modules are located inside the steering
wheel and instrument panel. For vehicles with
roof-rail airbags, there are airbag modules in the ceiling
of the vehicle, near the side windows that have
occupant seating positions. How Does an Airbag Restrain? In moderate to severe frontal or near frontal collisions,
even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel or
the instrument panel. In moderate to severe side
collisions, even belted occupants can contact the inside
of the vehicle.
Airbags supplement the protection provided by safety
belts. Frontal airbags distribute the force of the impact
more evenly over the occupant’s upper body, stopping
the occupant more gradually. Roof-rail airbags distribute
the force of the impact more evenly over the occupant’s
upper body.
Rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to help
contain the head and chest of occupants in the outboard
seating positions in the rst, second, and third rows, if
equipped with a third row seat. The rollover capable
roof-rail airbags are designed to help reduce the risk of
full or partial ejection in rollover events, although no
system can prevent all such ejections.
But airbags would not help in many types of collisions,
primarily because the occupant’s motion is not toward
those airbags. See When Should an Airbag Inflate? on
page 1-84 for more information.
Airbags should never be regarded as anything more
than a supplement to safety belts.
1-85

What Will You See After an Airbag
Inates? After the frontal airbags inate, they quickly deate, so
quickly that some people may not even realize an
airbag inated. Roof-rail airbags may still be at least
partially inated for some time after they deploy.
Some components of the airbag module may be hot for
several minutes. For location of the airbag modules,
see What Makes an Airbag Inflate? on page 1-85 .
The parts of the airbag that come into contact with you
may be warm, but not too hot to touch. There may
be some smoke and dust coming from the vents in the
deated airbags. Airbag ination does not prevent
the driver from seeing out of the windshield or being
able to steer the vehicle, nor does it prevent people from
leaving the vehicle. { CAUTION: When an airbag inates, there may be dust in the
air. This dust could cause breathing problems for
people with a history of asthma or other breathing
trouble. To avoid this, everyone in the vehicle
should get out as soon as it is safe to do so.
If you have breathing problems but cannot get out
of the vehicle after an airbag inates, then get
fresh air by opening a window or a door. If you
experience breathing problems following an airbag
deployment, you should seek medical attention.
The vehicle has a feature that may automatically unlock
the doors, turn the interior lamps on, and turn the
hazard warning ashers on when the airbags inate.
You can lock the doors, turn the interior lamps off, and
turn the hazard warning ashers off by using the
controls for those features.
1-86

In many crashes severe enough to inate the airbag,
windshields are broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage may also occur from the
right front passenger airbag.
Airbags are designed to inate only once. After an
airbag inates, you will need some new parts for
the airbag system. If you do not get them, the airbag
system will not be there to help protect you in
another crash. A new system will include airbag
modules and possibly other parts. The service
manual for the vehicle covers the need to replace
other parts.
The vehicle has a crash sensing and diagnostic
module which records information after a crash.
See Vehicle Data Recording and Privacy on
page 8-16 and Event Data Recorders on page 8-17 .
Let only qualied technicians work on the airbag
systems. Improper service can mean that an
airbag system will not work properly. See your
dealer/retailer for service. Passenger Sensing System The vehicle has a passenger sensing system for the
right front passenger position. The passenger airbag
status indicator will be visible on the overhead console
when the vehicle is started.
The words ON and OFF, or the symbol for on and off,
will be visible during the system check. If you are using
remote start to start the vehicle from a distance, if
equipped, you may not see the system check. When the
system check is complete, either the word ON or OFF, or
the symbol for on or off, will be visible. See Passenger
Airbag Status Indicator on page 3-37 .
The passenger sensing system will turn off the right
front passenger frontal airbag under certain conditions.
The driver airbag and the roof-rail airbags (if equipped)
are not affected by the passenger sensing system. United States
Canada
1-87

Adding Equipment to Your
Airbag-Equipped Vehicle
Q: Is there anything I might add to or change
about the vehicle that could keep the airbags
from working properly?
A: Yes. If you add things that change the vehicle’s
frame, bumper system, height, front end or side
sheet metal, they may keep the airbag system from
working properly. Changing or moving any parts
of the front seats, safety belts, the airbag sensing
and diagnostic module, steering wheel, instrument
panel, roof-rail airbag modules, ceiling headliner
or pillar garnish trim, overhead console, front
sensors, side impact sensors, rollover sensor
module, or airbag wiring can affect the operation of
the airbag system.
In addition, the vehicle has a passenger sensing
system for the right front passenger position, which
includes sensors that are part of the passenger
seat. The passenger sensing system may not
operate properly if the original seat trim is replaced
with non-GM covers, upholstery or trim, or with
GM covers, upholstery or trim designed for a
different vehicle. Any object, such as an aftermarket
seat heater or a comfort enhancing pad or device,
installed under or on top of the seat fabric, could also interfere with the operation of the
passenger sensing system. This could either
prevent proper deployment of the passenger
airbag(s) or prevent the passenger sensing system
from properly turning off the passenger airbag(s).
See Passenger Sensing System on page 1-87 .
If you have any questions, call Customer
Assistance. The phone numbers and addresses for
Customer Assistance are in Step Two of the
Customer Satisfaction Procedure in this manual.
See Customer Satisfaction Procedure on page 8-2 .
If the vehicle has rollover roof-rail airbags, see
Different Size Tires and Wheels on page 6-73 for
additional important information.
Q: Because I have a disability, I have to get my
vehicle modied. How can I nd out whether
this will affect my airbag system?
A: If you have questions, call Customer Assistance.
The phone numbers and addresses for Customer
Assistance are in Step Two of the Customer
Satisfaction Procedure in this manual. See
Customer Satisfaction Procedure on page 8-2 .
In addition, your dealer/retailer and the service manual
have information about the location of the airbag sensors,
sensing and diagnostic module and airbag wiring.
1-94