ESP GMC SAVANA 1996 Owners Manual

Here Are Questions Many People Ask Q: If I’m a good driver, and I never drive far from
About Safetv Belts -- and the Answers home, why should I wear safety belts?
Q:
A:
A:
U
Won’t I be trapped in the vehicle after an
accident if I’m wearing a safety belt?
You coclld be -- whether you’re wearing a safety
belt or not.
But you can unbuckle a safety belt,
even
if you’re upside down. And your chance of
being conscious during and after an accident,
so
you can unbuckle and get out, is IHLI~II greater if
you are belted.
If my vehicle has air bags, why should I have to
wear
safety belts?
Air bags are in many vehicles today and will
be in most of them in the future. But they are
supplemental systems only;
so they work cvith
safety belts -- not instead of them. Every air bag
system ever offered for sale has required the use of
safety belts. Even
if you’re in a vehicle that has air
bags,
you still have to buckle up to get the most
protection. That’s true not only
in frontal collisions.
but especially
in side and other collisions.
A: You may be an excellent driver, but if you’re in an
accident
-- even one that isn’t your fault -- you and
your passengers can be hurt. Being a good driver
doesn’t protect you from things beyond your
control, such as bad drivers.
Most accidents occur within
25 miles (40 km) of
home. And the greatest number of serious injuries
and deaths occur at speeds
of less than 40 mph
(65 ktn/h).
Safety belts are for everyone.
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D or Lock-
Unlocked doors can be dangerous.
Passengers
-- especially children -- can easily
open the doors and fall out. When a door is
locked, the inside handle won’t open it.
Outsiders can easily enter through
an unlocked
door when
you slow down or stop your vehicle.
This may not be
so obvious: You increase the
chance
of being thrown out of the vehicle in a
crash if the doors aren’t locked. Wear safety belts
properly, lock your doors, and you will be far
better off whenever you drive your vehicle.
There are several ways to lock and unlock your vehicle.
From the outside,
use your key.
To lock the door from the
inside, slide the lever on
your door down.
To unlock the door, slide
the lever
up.
Power Door Locks (Option)
Press the bottom side of the
power door lock switch
to
lock the doors at once.
When
a door is locked, the inside door handle will not work.
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Theft Parking at Night
Vehicle theft is big business, especially in some
cities. Although your vehicle has a number of
theft-deterrent features, we know that nothing we
put
on it can make it impossible to steal. However,
there are ways you can help.
Key in the Ignition
If you leave your vehicle with the keys inside, it’s an
easy target for joy riders or professional thieves -- so
don’t do it.
When you park your vehicle and open the driver’s
door, you’ll hear a tone reminding you to remove your
key from
the ignition and take it with you. Always do
this. Your steering wheel will be locked, and so will
your ignition and transmission. And remember to lock
the doors. Park
in a
lighted spot, close all windows and lock your
vehicle. Remember to keep your valuables
out of sight.
Put
them in a storage area, or take them with you.
Parking Lots
If you park in a lot where someone will be watching
your vehicle,
it’s best to lock it up and take your keys.
But what if
you have to leave your ignition key? What
if you have to leave something valuable in your vehicle?
Put your valuables in a storage area, like your
glove box.
Lock all the doors except the driver’s.
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Rotate the switch knob clockwise again to the master
lighting symbol to turn on all the lamps listed
as well as
the headlamps.
Rotate the switch counterclockwise to
OFF to turn off
your lamps.
Rotate the thumb wheel next to the switch knob up
to
adjust instrument panel lights. Rotate the thumb wheel up
to the first notch
to return the radio display and gearshift
indicator display to
full intensity when the headlamps or
parlung lamps are on.
Rotate the thumb wheel up to the second notch to
activate the interior dome lamps.
You can switch your headlamps from high to low beam
by pulling
on the turn signal/high beam lever.
A circuit breaker protects your headlamps. If you have
an electrical overload, your headlamps will flicker on
and off. Have your headlamp wiring checked right away
if this happens.
Headlamps On Reminder
A buzzer will sound when your headlamps are turned on
and your ignition is
in OFF, LOCK or ACCESSORY,
If you need to use your headlamps when the ignition
switch is in
OFF, LOCK or ACCESSORY, the buzzer
can be turned off by turning the thumb wheel next
to the
parking lamp/headlamp switch all the way down.
Daytime Running Lamps (If Equipped)
Daytime Running Lamps (DRL) can make it easier for
others to see the front
of your vehicle during the day.
DRL can be helpful
in many different driving
conditions, but they can be especially helpful in the
short periods after dawn and before sunset.
The DRL system will make your headlamps
come on at
a reduced brightness when:
0 The ignition is on,
The headlamp switch is off and
0 The parking brake is released.
If your vehicle was first sold, when new,
in Canada,
your headlamps will come on at reduced brightness.
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If the code entered is incorrect, SEC will appear on the
display.
The radio will remain secured ~~ntil the correct
code is entered.
When battery power is disconnected from
a secured
radio, the radio won’t turn
on and LOC will appear on
the display.
To unlock
a secured radio, see “Unlocking the
Theft-Deterrent Feature After a Power
Loss” earlier in
this section.
Understanding Radio Reception
FM Stereo
FM stereo will give you the best sound. But FM signals
will reach only about 10 to 40 miles (16 to 65 km). Tall
buildings or hills can interfere
with FM signals, causing
the sound
to come and go.
AM
The range for most AM stations is greater than for FM,
especially at night. The longer range, however, can
cause stations
to interfere with each other. AM can pick
up noise from things like storms and power lines. Try
reducing the treble to reduce this noise
if you ever get it.
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The body takes about an hour to rid itself of the alcohol
in one drink. No amount of coffee or number of cold
showers will speed that up.
“I’ll be careful” isn’t the
right answer. What
if t.here’s an emergency, a need to
take sudden action,
as when a child darts into the street?
A person with even a moderate BAC might not be able
to react quickly enough to avoid the collision.
There’s something else about drinking and driving that
many people don’t know. Medical research shows that
alcohol
in a person‘s system can make crash injuries
worse, especially injuries to the brain, spinal cord or
heart. This means that when anyone
who has been
drinking
-- driver or passenger -- is in a crash, that
person’s chance
of being killed or permanently disabled
is higher than if the person had not been drinking.
I A CAUTION:
I
Drinking and then driving is very dangerous.
Your reflexes, perceptions, attentiveness and
judgment can be affected by even a small amount
of alcohol. You can have a serious -- or even
fatal
-- collision if you drive after drinking.
Please don’t drink and drive or ride with
a driver
who has been drinking. Ride home in a cab; or if
you’re with
a group, designate a driver who will
not drink.
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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 an, crer can
suddenly put
the passing driver fzce 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.
Wdtch 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's all right
to pass
(providing the road ahead is cleat-). 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're awaiting an opportunity. For one
thing, following too closely reduces your area of
vision, especially
if you're following a larger
vehicle.
Also, you won't 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 don't
increasing speed as the time colnes to move into the
other lane.
If the way is clear to pass, you will have
a "running start" that more than makes LIP for the
distance you would lose by dropping back. And if
something happens to cause ~OLI to cancel your pass,
you need only slow clown and drop back again and
wait for another opportunity.
L' (ret too close. Time your move so you will be
Ii'other cars are lined up to pass a slow vehicle, wait
your
turn. But take care that someone isn*t trying to
pass you as you pull out to pass the slow vehicle.
Re~ne~nber to glance over your shoulder and check
the blind
spot.
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0 Check your 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
inside mirror, activate your right lane change signal
and move back into the right lane. (Remember that
your right outside mirror is convex. The vehicle you
just passed may seem to be farther away from
you
than it really is.)
0 Try not to pass more than one vehicle at a time
on two-lane roads. Reconsider before passing the
next vehicle.
0 Don’t overtake a slowly moving vehicle too rapidly.
Even though the brake lamps are
not flashing, it
may be slowing down or starting to turn.
0 If you’re being passed, make it easy for the
following driver to get ahead
of you. Perhaps you
can ease a
little to the right.
Loss of Control
Let’s review what driving experts say about what
happens when the three control systems (brakes, steering
and acceleration) don’t have enough friction where the
tires meet the road
to do what the driver has asked.
In any emergency, don’t give up. Keep trying to
steer and constantly seek an escape route or area
of less danger.
Skidding
In a skid, a driver can lose control of the vehicle.
Defensive drivers avoid most skids by taking
reasonable care suited to existing conditions, and
by not ”overdriving” those conditions.
But skids are
always possible.
The three types
of skids correspond to your vehicle’s
three control systems.
In the braking skid, your wheels
aren’t rolling.
In the steering or cornering skid, too
much speed or steering
in a curve causes tires to slip and
lose cornering force. And
in the acceleration skid, too
much throttle causes the driving wheels to spin.
A cornering skid and an acceleration skid are best
handled
by easing your foot oft’ the accelerator pedal.
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Here are some tips on night driving.
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Drive defensively.
Don’t drink and drive.
Adjust your inside rearview mirror to reduce
the
L‘ olare from headlamps behind you.
Since you can’t see as well, you may need to
slow down and keep more space between
you
and other vehicles.
Slow down, especially on higher speed roads. Your
headlamps can light up
only so much road ahead.
In remote areas, watch for animals.
If you’re tired, pull off the road in a safe place
and rest.
Night Vision
No one can see as well at night as in the daytime. But as
we get older these differences increase. A SO-year-old
driver may require at least twice as much light to see
the
same thing at night as a 20-year-old.
What
you do in the daytime can also affect your night
vision. For example, if you spend the- day in bright
sunshine
you are wise to wear sunglasses. Your eyes will have less
trouble adjusting to night. But
if you’re
driving. don’t wear sunglasses
at night. They may cut
down
on glare from herldlamps, but they also make a
lot of things invisible.
You can be temporarily blindecl by approaching
Imldlamps.
It can take a second or two, or even several
seconds,
for your eyes to readjust to the dark. When you
are laced with severe glare (as from a driver who
doesn’t lower the high beams, or
:I vehicle with
rnisaimed headlamps),
slow down a little. Avoid staring
directly into the approaching headlamps.
Keep
your windshield and all the glass on your vehicle
clean
-- inside and out. Glare at night is made much
worse by dirt on the
glass. Even the inside of the glass
can build up
a film caused by dust. Dirty glass makes
lights dazzle and
l’1as1.1 more than clean glass would,
making the pupils of your
eyes contract repeatedly.
Remember that your
headlamps light up far less of a
roadway when you are in ;I turn or curve. Keep your
eyes moving; that way. it‘s easier to pick out dimly
lighted ob-jects. Just
as your headlamps should be
checked regularly for proper
aim, so should your eyes
be examined regularly. Some drivers suffer from night
blindness
-- the inability to sec in dim light -- and aren’t
even aware
of it.
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Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning is dangerous. So much water can build up
under your tires that they can actually ride
on the water.
This can happen if the road is wet enough and you’re
going fast enough. When your vehicle is hydroplaning,
it has little or no contact with the road.
Hydroplaning doesn’t happen often. But
it can if your
tires haven’t much tread or
if the pressure in one or
more is low.
It can happen if a lot of water is standing on
the road. If you can see reflections from trees, telephone
poles or other vehicles, and raindrops “dimple” the
water’s surface, there could be hydroplaning.
Hydroplaning usually happens at higher speeds. There
just isn’t a hard and fast rule about hydroplaning. The
best advice
is to slow down when it is raining.
Driving Through Deep Standing Water
NOTICE:
If you drive too quickly through deep puddles
or standing water, water can come in through
your engine’s air intake and badly damage your
engine. Never drive through water that is slightly lower than the underbody
of your vehicle. If you
can’t avoid deep puddles or standing water, drive
through them very slowly.
Some Other Rainy Weather Tips
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Turn on your low-beam headlamps -- not just
your parking lamps
-- to help make you more
visible to others.
Besides slowing down, allow some extra following
distance. And be especially careful when you pass
another vehicle. Allow yourself more clear room
ahead, and be prepared to have your view restricted
by road spray.
Have good tires with proper tread depth. (See
“Tires” in the Index.)
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