ECO GMC ENVOY DENALI 2007 Owners Manual

Care of Your CDs and DVDs
Handle CDs carefully. Store them in their original
cases or other protective cases and away from
direct sunlight and dust. The CD player scans the
bottom surface of the disc. If the surface of a
CD is damaged, such as cracked, broken,
or scratched, the CD does not play properly or not
at all. If the surface of a CD is soiled, take a
soft, lint free cloth or dampen a clean, soft cloth in
a mild, neutral detergent solution mixed with
water, and clean it. Make sure the wiping process
starts from the center to the edge.
Do not touch the bottom side of a CD while
handling it; this could damage the surface. Pick up
CDs by grasping the outer edges or the edge of
the hole and the outer edge.
Care of the CD and DVD Player
The use of CD lens cleaners for CDs is not
advised, due to the risk of contaminating the lens
of the CD optics with lubricants internal to the
CD mechanism.
Fixed Mast Antenna
The xed mast antenna can withstand most car
washes without being damaged. If the mast should
ever become slightly bent, straighten it out by
hand. If the mast is badly bent, replace it.
Check occasionally to make sure the mast is
still tightened to the fender. If tightening is
required, tighten by hand, then with a wrench
one quarter turn.
299

Your Driving, the Road, and
Your Vehicle............................................ 302
Defensive Driving...................................... 302
Drunken Driving........................................ 303
Control of a Vehicle.................................. 306
Braking...................................................... 306
Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS).................. 307
Braking in Emergencies............................. 309
Locking Rear Axle..................................... 309
StabiliTrak
®System................................... 309
Steering.................................................... 314
Off-Road Recovery.................................... 316
Passing..................................................... 316
Loss of Control.......................................... 318
Off-Road Driving........................................ 319
Driving at Night......................................... 334
Driving in Rain and on Wet Roads............ 335
City Driving............................................... 338Freeway Driving........................................ 339
Before Leaving on a Long Trip.................. 340
Highway Hypnosis..................................... 341
Hill and Mountain Roads........................... 342
Winter Driving........................................... 344
If Your Vehicle is Stuck in Sand, Mud,
Ice, or Snow.......................................... 348
Rocking Your Vehicle to Get It Out........... 348
Loading Your Vehicle................................ 349
Adding a Snow Plow or Similar
Equipment.............................................. 354
Towing........................................................ 354
Towing Your Vehicle ................................. 354
Recreational Vehicle Towing...................... 355
Electronically Controlled Air Suspension
System.................................................. 360
Towing a Trailer........................................ 362
Section 4 Driving Your Vehicle
301

Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and
driving is a national tragedy. It is the number
one contributor to the highway death toll,
claiming thousands of victims every year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to
drive a vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
Vision
Attentiveness
Police records show that almost half of all motor
vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most
cases, these deaths are the result of someone who
was drinking and driving. In recent years, more
than 16,000 annual motor vehicle-related deaths
have been associated with the use of alcohol, with
more than 300,000 people injured.Many adults — by some estimates, nearly half
the adult population — choose never to drink
alcohol, so they never drive after drinking.
For persons under 21, it is against the law in
every U.S. state to drink alcohol. There are good
medical, psychological, and developmental
reasons for these laws.
The obvious way to eliminate the leading highway
safety problem is for people never to drink
alcohol and then drive. But what if people do?
How much is “too much” if someone plans
to drive? It is a lot less than many might think.
Although it depends on each person and situation,
here is some general information on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of
someone who is drinking depends upon
four things:
The amount of alcohol consumed
The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that is consumed before
and during drinking
The length of time it has taken the drinker to
consume the alcohol
303

Control of a Vehicle
You have three systems that make your
vehicle go where you want it to go. They are
the brakes, the steering, and the accelerator.
All three systems have to do their work at
the places where the tires meet the road.
Sometimes, as when you are driving on snow or
ice, it is easy to ask more of those control systems
than the tires and road can provide. That means
you can lose control of your vehicle.
Adding non-GM accessories can affect your
vehicle’s performance. SeeAccessories and
Modications on page 380.
Braking
SeeBrake System Warning Light on page 206.
Braking action involves perception time and
reaction time.
First, you have to decide to push on the brake
pedal. That is perception time. Then you have to
bring up your foot and do it. That is reaction time.
Average reaction time is about three-fourths of a
second. But that is only an average. It might be less
with one driver and as long as two or three seconds
or more with another. Age, physical condition,
alertness, coordination, and eyesight all play a part.
So do alcohol, drugs, and frustration. But even in
three-fourths of a second, a vehicle moving at
60 mph (100 km/h) travels 66 feet (20 m). That
could be a lot of distance in an emergency, so
keeping enough space between your vehicle and
others is important.
And, of course, actual stopping distances vary
greatly with the surface of the road, whether it is
pavement or gravel; the condition of the road,
whether it is wet, dry, or icy; tire tread; the
condition of the brakes; the weight of the vehicle;
and the amount of brake force applied.
306

Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive
in spurts — heavy acceleration followed by heavy
braking — rather than keeping pace with traffic.
This is a mistake. The brakes may not have time to
cool between hard stops. The brakes will wear out
much faster if you do a lot of heavy braking. If you
keep pace with the traffic and allow realistic
following distances, you will eliminate a lot of
unnecessary braking. That means better braking
and longer brake life.
If your vehicle’s engine ever stops while you are
driving, brake normally but do not pump the
brakes. If you do, the pedal may get harder to
push down. If the engine stops, you will still have
some power brake assist. But you will use it
when you brake. Once the power assist is used
up, it may take longer to stop and the brake pedal
will be harder to push.
Adding non-GM accessories can affect your
vehicle’s performance. SeeAccessories and
Modications on page 380.Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS)
Your vehicle has the Anti-Lock Brake System
(ABS), an advanced electronic braking system that
will help prevent a braking skid.
When you start your engine and begin to drive
away, ABS will check itself. You may hear a
momentary motor or clicking noise while this test
is going on. This is normal.
If there is a problem
with ABS, this warning
light will stay on.
SeeAnti-Lock Brake
System Warning
Light on page 207.
Along with ABS, your vehicle has a Dynamic Rear
Proportioning (DRP) system. If there is a DRP
problem, both the brake and ABS warning lights will
come on accompanied by a 10-second chime.
The lights and chime will come on each time the
ignition is turned on until the problem is repaired.
See your dealer for service.
307

For more information on the stability messages,
seeDIC Warnings and Messages on page 222.
When the StabiliTrak
®
system is both on and
actively controlling
the stability of the
vehicle, the StabiliTrak
®
light will blink for the
duration of the event.
You may also feel or hear the system working.
This is normal.
The StabiliTrak
®disable
button is located on the
transmission shift
handle.
The StabiliTrak
®system is automatically disabled
in 4LO mode and cannot be turned on until the
vehicle is switched to 2HI, 4HI, or 4AWD.The StabiliTrak
®system has three modes of
operation: STABILITRAK ON, TRACTION
CONTROL OFF, and STABILITRAK OFF.
STABILITRAK ON -The vehicle will default to
STABILITRAK ON every time the driver starts the
vehicle. The StabiliTrak
®light will be off and no
DIC messages will be displayed.
TRACTION CONTROL OFF - The driver can
modify the engine speed management system by
momentarily pressing the StabiliTrak
®button
on the transmission shift handle. The StabiliTrak®
light will come on and TRACTION CONTROL OFF
will be displayed. For vehicles without a DIC,
the StabiliTrak
®indicator light will come on.
Momentarily pressing the StabiliTrak®button
again will return the system to the STABILITRAK
ON mode.
STABILITRAK OFF - The driver can turn off
StabiliTrak
®by pressing the StabiliTrak®button for
more than ve seconds. The StabiliTrak®light will
come on and STABILITRAK OFF will be displayed.
For vehicles without a DIC, the StabiliTrak
®
indicator light will come on. Momentarily pressing
the StabiliTrak®button again will return the system
to the STABILITRAK ON mode. See StabiliTrak®
Off below for more information.
310

Traction Control Off
In this mode, stability control and brake-traction
control are functional. Engine speed management
will be modied and the driven wheels can spin
more freely. This can cause the brake-traction
control to activate more frequently. If the controller
detects excessive wheel spin in this mode, the
StabiliTrak
®indicator light may blink and the
STABILITRAK ACTIVE message may be displayed
to warn the driver that damage may occur to the
transfer case.
StabiliTrak®Off
In this mode, both stability control and part of the
traction control system are disabled. Your vehicle
will still have brake-traction control, but will not be
able to use the engine speed management system.
You may still hear system noises as a result of the
brake-traction control coming on. If the controller
detects excessive wheel spin in this mode, the
StabiliTrak
®indicator light may blink and the
STABILITRAK ACTIVE message may be displayed
to warn the driver that damage may occur to the
transfer case.It is recommended to leave the system on for
normal driving conditions, but it may be necessary
to turn the system off if your vehicle is stuck in
sand, mud, ice or snow, and you may want
to “rock” your vehicle in an attempt to free it. It may
also be necessary to turn off the system when
driving in extreme off-road conditions where high
wheel spin is required. SeeIf Your Vehicle is
Stuck in Sand, Mud, Ice, or Snow on page 348for
more information.
When the transfer case is in 4LO, the stability
system is automatically disabled. The StabiliTrak
®
light will come on and the STABILITRAK OFF
message will appear on the DIC. The StabiliTrak®
system cannot be turned on until the vehicle is
switched to 2HI, 4HI, or 4AWD.
311

Steering in Emergencies
There are times when steering can be more
effective than braking. For example, you come over
a hill and nd a truck stopped in your lane, or a car
suddenly pulls out from nowhere, or a child darts
out from between parked cars and stops right in
front of you. You can avoid these problems by
braking — if you can stop in time. But sometimes
you cannot; there is not room. That is the time for
evasive action — steering around the problem.
Your vehicle can perform very well in emergencies
like these. First apply your brakes.
SeeBraking on page 306. It is better to remove as
much speed as you can from a possible collision.
Then steer around the problem, to the left or
right depending on the space available.An emergency like this requires close attention
and a quick decision. If you are holding the
steering wheel at the recommended 9 and
3 o’clock positions, you can turn it a full
180 degrees very quickly without removing either
hand. But you have to act fast, steer quickly,
and just as quickly straighten the wheel once you
have avoided the object.
The fact that such emergency situations are always
possible is a good reason to practice defensive
driving at all times and wear safety belts properly.
315

Off-Road Recovery
You may nd that your right wheels have dropped
off the edge of a road onto the shoulder while
you are driving.
If the level of the shoulder is only slightly below the
pavement, recovery should be fairly easy. Ease off
the accelerator and then, if there is nothing in the
way, steer so that your vehicle straddles the edge
of the pavement. You can turn the steering wheel
up to one-quarter turn until the right front tire
contacts the pavement edge. Then turn your
steering wheel to go straight down the roadway.
Passing
The driver of a vehicle about to pass another on a
two-lane highway waits for just the right moment,
accelerates, moves around the vehicle ahead, then
goes back into the right lane again. A simple
maneuver?
Not necessarily! Passing another vehicle on a
two-lane highway is a potentially dangerous move,
since the passing vehicle occupies the same
lane as oncoming traffic for several seconds.
A miscalculation, an error in judgment, or a brief
surrender to frustration or anger can suddenly
put the passing driver face to face with the worst
of all traffic accidents — the head-on collision.
So here are some tips for passing:
Drive ahead. Look down the road, to the sides,
and to crossroads for situations that might
affect your passing patterns. If you have any
doubt whatsoever about making a successful
pass, wait for a better time.
316

Watch for traffic signs, pavement markings, and
lines. If you can see a sign up ahead that might
indicate a turn or an intersection, delay your
pass. A broken center line usually indicates it is
all right to pass, providing the road ahead is
clear. Never cross a solid line on your side of
the lane or a double solid line, even if the road
seems empty of approaching traffic.
Do not get too close to the vehicle you want to
pass while you are awaiting an opportunity. For
one thing, following too closely reduces your
area of vision, especially if you are following a
larger vehicle. Also, you will not have adequate
space if the vehicle ahead suddenly slows or
stops. Keep back a reasonable distance.
When it looks like a chance to pass is coming
up, start to accelerate but stay in the right lane
and do not get too close. Time your move so
you will be increasing speed as the time comes
to move into the other lane. If the way is clear to
pass, you will have a running start that more
than makes up for the distance you would lose
by dropping back. And if something happens to
cause you to cancel your pass, you need only
slow down and drop back again and wait for
another opportunity.
If other vehicles are lined up to pass a slow
vehicle, wait your turn. But take care that
someone is not trying to pass you as you pull
out to pass the slow vehicle. Remember to
glance over your shoulder and check the
blind spot.
Check your vehicle’s mirrors, glance over your
shoulder, and start your left lane change signal
before moving out of the right lane to pass.
When you are far enough ahead of the passed
vehicle to see its front in your vehicle’s inside
mirror, activate the right lane change signal and
move back into the right lane. Remember that
your vehicle’s passenger side outside mirror is
convex. The vehicle you just passed may seem
to be farther away from you than it really is.
Try not to pass more than one vehicle at a time
on two-lane roads. Reconsider before passing
the next vehicle.
Do not overtake a slowly moving vehicle too
rapidly. Even though the brake lamps are not
ashing, it may be slowing down or starting
to turn.
If you are being passed, make it easy for the
following driver to get ahead of you. Perhaps
you can ease a little to the right.
317