BUICK LACROSSE 2012 User Guide

Black plate (5,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
In Brief 1-5
When the engine starts, the parking
lamps will turn on and remain on as
long as the engine is running. The
doors will be locked and the climate
control system may come on.
The engine will continue to run for
10 minutes. Repeat the steps for a
10-minute time extension. Remote
start can be extended only once.
Canceling a Remote Start
To cancel a remote start, do one of
the following:
.Aim the RKE transmitter at the
vehicle and press and hold
/
until the parking lamps turn off.
.Turn on the hazard warning
flashers.
.Turn the vehicle on and then off.
See Remote Vehicle Start on
page 2‑9.
Door Locks
To lock or unlock the doors:
.From inside the vehicle, use the
door lock knob or the power
door lock controls, pull once on
the door handle to unlock it, and
a second time to open it.
.From outside, use the key,
or press
QorKon the Remote
Keyless Entry (RKE) transmitter.
See Remote Keyless Entry
(RKE) System Operation on
page 2‑4.
See Door Locks on page 2‑11.
Power Door Locks
K:Press to unlock the doors.
Q:Press to lock the doors.
See Power Door Locks on
page 2‑12.

Black plate (6,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
1-6 In Brief
Trunk Release
The trunk may be opened by
pressing
Von the Remote
Keyless Entry (RKE) transmitter or
the touch pad located on the rear of
the trunk above the license plate.
See Trunk on page 2‑13 for more
information.
Windows
Press the switch to lower the
window. Pull the switch up to
raise it. For more information, see
Power
Windows on page 2‑20.
Seat Adjustment
Manual Seats
A. Seatback Recline Lever
B. Height Adjustment Switch
C. Seat Position Handle To adjust the seat position:
1. Pull the handle (C) under the
front of the seat cushion.
2. Slide the seat to the desired position and release the
handle (C).
3. Try to move the seat back and forth to be sure it is locked in
place.
Press and hold the top or bottom of
the switch (B) to raise or lower the
seat. Release the switch (B) when
the desired height is reached.
To raise or recline the seatback, use
the lever (A) on the outboard side of
the seat.
See Seat Adjustment on page 3‑4
and Reclining Seatbacks on
page 3‑6 for more information.

Black plate (7,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
In Brief 1-7
Power Seats
To adjust the seat:
.Move the seat forward or
rearward by moving the
horizontal control forward or
rearward.
.Raise or lower the front or rear
part of the seat cushion by
moving the front or rear of the
horizontal control up or down.
.Raise or lower the entire seat by
moving the control up or down.See
Power Seat Adjustment on
page 3‑5.
Power Reclining Seatbacks
To raise or recline the seatback, tilt
the top of the vertical control
forward or rearward. See Reclining
Seatbacks on page 3‑6. Lumbar Adjustment
To adjust the lumbar support,
if available:
.Press and hold the front or rear
of the control to increase or
decrease lumbar support.
.Press and hold the top or bottom
of the control to raise or lower
lumbar support.
See Lumbar Adjustment on
page 3‑5.

Black plate (8,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
1-8 In Brief
Memory Features
On vehicles with the memory
feature, the“1”and “2”buttons on
the outboard side of the driver seat
are used to manually save and
recall the driver seat and outside
mirror positions. These manually
stored positions are referred to as
Button Memory positions.
The vehicle will also automatically
save driver seat and outside mirror
positions to the current driver
Remote Keyless Entry (RKE)
transmitter when the ignition is placed in OFF. These automatically
stored positions are referred to as
RKE Memory positions.
Storing Button Memory Positions
To save positions into Button
Memory:
1. Adjust the driver seat, seatback
recliner, and both outside mirrors
to the desired driving positions.
2. Press and hold MEM (Memory) and “1”at the same time until a
beep sounds.
3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for a second driver using “2.”
To recall the manually saved Button
Memory positions, press and hold
“1” or“2.” The driver seat and
outside mirrors move to the
positions stored to those buttons
when pressed. Releasing “1”or“2”
before the stored positions are
reached stops the recall.
To automatically recall RKE Memory
positions, unlock the driver door
with the RKE transmitter, and open the driver door. On vehicles with
Keyless Access, opening the driver
door when an RKE transmitter is
present will activate the RKE
Memory recall. If the driver door is
already open, pressing the RKE
transmitter
Kbutton will also
activate the RKE Memory recall.
The driver seat and outside mirrors
will move to the previously saved
RKE Memory positions.
See Memory Seats on page 3‑8 for
more information.
Easy Exit Driver Seat
This feature moves the seat
rearward allowing the driver more
room to exit the vehicle.
To activate, place the ignition in
OFF and open the driver door. If the
driver door is already open, placing
the ignition in OFF will activate the
easy exit driver seat.
This feature is turned on or off using
the vehicle personalization menu.
See Vehicle Personalization on
page 5‑43 for more information.

Black plate (9,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
In Brief 1-9
Heated and Ventilated
Seats
Heated and Ventilated Seat
Buttons Shown, Heated Seat Buttons Similar
If available, the buttons are on the
climate control panel. To operate,
the ignition must be on.
Press
Lto heat the seat cushion
and seatback or
{, if equipped, to
ventilate the seat. Press the button once for the
highest setting. With each press of
the button, the seat will change to
the next lower setting, and then to
the off setting. The lights indicate
three for the highest setting and one
for the lowest.
For more information, see
Heated
and Ventilated Front Seats on
page 3‑10.
Head Restraint
Adjustment
Do not drive until the head restraints
for all occupants are installed and
adjusted properly.
To achieve a comfortable seating
position, change the seatback
recline angle as little as necessary
while keeping the seat and the head
restraint height in the proper
position.
For more information see Head
Restraints on page 3‑2 andSeat
Adjustment on page 3‑4.
Safety Belts
Refer to the following sections for
important information on how to use
safety belts properly:
.Safety Belts on page 3‑13.
.How to Wear Safety Belts
Properly on page 3‑14.
.Lap-Shoulder Belt on page 3‑15.
.Lower Anchors and Tethers for
Children (LATCH System) on
page 3‑44.

Black plate (10,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
1-10 In Brief
Passenger Sensing
System
The passenger sensing system
turns off the front outboard
passenger frontal airbag under
certain conditions. No other airbag
is affected by the passenger
sensing system.
The passenger airbag status
indicator will be visible on the
instrument panel when the vehicle is
started. SeePassenger Sensing
System on page 3‑29 for important
information.
Mirror Adjustment
Exterior
To adjust the mirrors:
1. Turn the control knob to the L (left) or R (right) selecting the
driver or passenger mirror.
2. Push the control knob to the left, right, up, or down to adjust the
mirror. Vehicles with the memory feature
can store a preferred mirror position.
See
“Memory Seats” underPower
Seat Adjustment on page 3‑5 for
more information.
See Power Mirrors on page 2‑17.
Manual Foldaway Mirrors
These mirrors can be folded inward
to prevent damage when going
through an automatic car wash. To
fold, pull the mirror toward the
vehicle. Push the mirror outward to
return it to the original position.
SeeFolding Mirrors on page 2‑17.
Automatic Dimming Feature
The vehicle may have an automatic
dimming driver outside mirror.
Automatic dimming reduces the
glare of the headlamps behind you.
SeePower Mirrors on page 2‑17.

Black plate (11,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
In Brief 1-11
Interior
Adjust this mirror for a clear view of
the area behind the vehicle. Hold
the mirror in the center to move it
up, down, or side to side. To reduce
headlamp glare from behind, push
the tab forward for daytime and pull
it for nighttime use.
Vehicles with OnStar
®have three
control buttons at the bottom of the
mirror. See your dealer for more
information on the system and how
to subscribe to OnStar. See OnStar
Overview on page 14‑1.
See Manual Rearview Mirror on
page 2‑18.
Steering Wheel
Adjustment
To adjust the steering wheel:
1. Pull the lever (A) down.
2. Move the steering wheel up or down.
3. Pull or push the steering wheel closer or away from you.
4. Pull the lever (A) up to lock the steering wheel in place.
Do not adjust the steering wheel
while driving.
Interior Lighting
Dome Lamps
The interior lamps control located in
the overhead console controls both
the front and rear interior lamps.
(: Turns the lamps off.
H:Turns the lamps on when any
door is opened.
': Keeps the lamps on all
the time.

Black plate (12,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
1-12 In Brief
Reading Lamps
There are front and rear reading
lamps.
The front reading lamps are located
in the overhead console.
The rear reading lamps are located
in the headliner.
#or$:Press to turn each lamp
on or off.
For more information, see:
.Dome Lamps on page 6‑6.
Exterior Lighting
The exterior lamp control is located
on the instrument panel on the
outboard side of the steering wheel.
Turn the control to the following
positions:
O: Turns off the exterior lamps.
The knob returns to the AUTO
position after it is released. Turn to
off again to reactivate the
AUTO mode.
AUTO: Automatically turns the
exterior lamps on and off,
depending on outside lighting.

Black plate (13,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
In Brief 1-13
;:Turns on the parking lamps,
together with the sidemarker lamps,
taillamps, license plate lamps, and
instrument panel lights.
2: Turns on the headlamps,
together with the parking lamps,
sidemarker lamps, taillamps, license
plate lamps, and instrument panel
lights.
For more information, see:
.Exterior Lamp Controls on
page 6‑1.
.Daytime Running Lamps (DRL)
on page 6‑2.
.Fog Lamps on page 6‑5.
Windshield Wiper/Washer
The windshield wiper lever is on the
right side of the steering column.
With the ignition in ACC/
ACCESSORY or ON/RUN, move
the windshield wiper lever to select
the wiper speed.
2: Use for fast wipes.
1: Use for slow wipes.
3:Move the lever to3, then
turn the band up for more frequent
wipes or down for less frequent
wipes.
9: Use to turn the windshield
wipers off.
3: Briefly move the wiper lever
down for a single wipe or hold down
for several wipes.
Windshield Washer
Pull the windshield wiper lever to
spray windshield washer fluid and
activate the wipers.
See Windshield Wiper/Washer on
page 5‑3.

Black plate (14,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
1-14 In Brief
Climate Controls
The heating, cooling, and ventilation for the vehicle can be controlled with
these systems.
Automatic Climate Control System
A. Power
B. Temperature Control
C. Fan Control
D. Air Delivery Mode Control
E. Recirculation F. AUTO (Automatic Operation)
G. Defrost
H. Air Conditioning
I. Rear Window Defogger