traction control OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE 2003 User Guide

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 is best handled by easing your foot
off
the accelerator pedal.
If you have the Traction Control System, remember:
It helps avoid only the acceleration skid.
If you do not
have this system, or
if the system is off, then an
acceleration skid is also best handled by easing your
foot
off the accelerator pedal.
If your vehicle starts to slide, ease your foot off the
accelerator pedal and quickly steer the way you want
the vehicle to go. If you start steering quickly enough,
your vehicle may straighten out. Always be ready
for a second skid
if it occurs.
Of course, traction is reduced when water, snow, ice,
gravel or other material
is on the road. For safety, you’ll
want to slow down and adjust your driving to these
conditions. It is important to slow down on slippery
surfaces because stopping distance will be longer and
vehicle control more limited.
While driving on a surface with reduced traction,
try your best
to avoid sudden steering, acceleration or
braking (including engine braking by shifting to a
lower gear). Any sudden changes could cause the tires
to slide. You may not realize the surface is slippery
until your vehicle
is skidding. Learn to recognize warning
clues
- such as enough water, ice or packed snow
on the road to make
a “mirrored surface” - and slow
down when you have any doubt.
If you have the anti-lock braking system, remember:
It helps avoid only the braking skid.
if you do not have
anti-lock, then in a braking skid (where the wheels
are no longer rolling), release enough pressure on the
brakes to get the wheels rolling again. This restores
steering control. Push the brake pedal down steadily
when you have to stop suddenly.
As long as the wheels
are rolling, you will have steering control.
4-1 6

What’s the worst time for this? “Wet ice.” Very cold
snow or ice can be slick and hard to drive on. But wet
ice can be even more trouble because it may offer
about freezing
(32°F; OOC) and freezing rain begins
to fall. Try to avoid driving on wet ice until salt and sand
crews can get there.
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Whatever the condition - smooth ice, packed, blowing
or loose snow
- drive with caution.
If you have traction control, keep the system on.
It will
improve your ability to accelerate when driving on a
slippery road. But you can turn the traction system
off
if you ever need to. You should turn the system off
if your vehicle ever gets stuck in sand, mud, ice,
or snow. See If You Are Stuck: In Sand, Mud, Ice or
Snow on page
4-30. Even though your vehicle has
a traction system you’ll want to slow down and adjust
your driving to the road conditions. See
Traction Control
System (TCS) on page
4- 10.
If you don’t have a traction system, accelerate gently.
Try not to break the gentle traction. If you accelerate
too fast, the drive wheels will spin and polish the surface
under the tires even more.
Unless you have the anti-lock braking system, you’ll
want to brake very gently, too. (If you do have anti-lock,
see
Braking on page 4-6. This system improves your
vehicle’s stability when you make a hard stop on a
slipperv road.) Whether you have
the anti-lock braking
system or not, you’ll want to begin stopping sooner than
you would on dry pavement. Without anti-lock brakes,
if you feel your vehicle begin to slide, let up on the
brakes a little. Push the brake pedal down steadily
to
get the most traction you can.
4-27

Notice: Spinning your wheels can destroy parts
of your vehicle as well
as the tires. If you spin the
wheels too fast while shifting your transaxle
back and forth, you can destroy your transaxle.
See “Rocking Your Vehicle
To Get It Out.”
For information about using tire chains on your vehicle,
see
Tire Chains on page 5-67.
Rocking Your Vehicle To Get It Out
First, turn your steering wheel left and right. That will
clear the area around your front wheels.
If your vehicle
has traction control, you should turn your traction
control system
off. See Traction Control System (TCS)
on page 4-10.
Then shift back and forth between
REVERSE (R) and a forward gear, spinning the wheels
as little as possible. Release the accelerator pedal
while you shift, and press lightly on the accelerator pedal
when the transaxle
is in gear. By slowly spinning your
wheels in the forward and reverse directions, you
will cause a rocking motion that may free your vehicle.
If that doesn’t get you out after a few tries, you may
need to be towed out. If you do need to be towed out,
see “Towing Your Vehicle” following.
4-31

Buying New Tires
To find out what kind and size of tires you need, look at
the Certificationflire label.
The tires installed on your vehicle when it was new had a
Tire Petformance Criteria Specification (TPC Spec)
number on each tire’s sidewall. When you get new tires,
get ones with that same TPC Spec number. That way
your vehicle will continue to have tires that are designed
to give proper endurance, handling, speed rating,
traction, ride and other things during normal service on
your vehicle. If your tires have an all-season tread design,
the TPC number will be followed by an
“MS” (for mud
and snow).
If you ever replace your tires with those not having a
TPC Spec number, make sure they are the same
size, load range, speed rating and construction type
(bias, bias-belted or radial) as your original tires. Mixing tires coul-.
Lause you to lose control
while driving. If you mix tires of different sizes
or types (radial and bias-belted tires), the
vehicle may not handle properly, and you
could have a crash. Using tires
of different
sizes may also cause damage to your vehicle.
Be sure to use the same size and type tires on
all wheels. It’s
all right to drive with your
compact spare temporarily,
it was developed
for use on your vehicle. See “Compact Spare
Tire”
in the index.
If you use bias-ply
1 1s on your vehicle, the
wheel rim flanges could develop cracks after
many miles
of driving. A tire and/or wheel
could fail suddenly, causing
a crash. Use only
radial-ply tires with the wheels on your vehicle.
5-64

Uniform Tire Quality Grading
Quality grades can be found where applicable on the
tire sidewall between tread shoulder and maximum
section width. For example:
Treadwear 200 Traction AA Temperature A
The following information relates to the system
developed by the United States National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, which grades tires by
treadwear, traction and temperature performance.
(This applies only to vehicles sold in the United States.)
The grades are molded on the sidewalls of most
passenger car tires. The Uniform Tire Quality Grading
system does not apply to deep tread, winter-type
snow tires, space-saver or temporary use spare tires,
tires with nominal rim diameters of 10 to
12 inches
(25 to 30 cm), or to some limited-production tires.
While the tires available on General Motors passenger
cars and light trucks may vary with respect to these
grades, they must also conform to federal safety
Performance Criteria (TPC) standards.
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Treadwear
The treadwear grade is a comparative rating based on
the wear rate of the tire when tested under controlled
conditions on a specified government test course.
For example, a tire graded 150 would wear one and
a half (1
5) times as well on the government course as
a tire graded 100. The relative performance of tires
depends upon the actual conditions of their use,
however, and may depart significantly from the norm
due to variations in driving habits, service practices and differences in road characteristics and climate.
Traction - AA, A, 9, C
The traction grades, from highest to lowest, are AA, A,
B, and C. Those grades represent the tire’s ability
to stop on wet pavement as measured under controlled
conditions on specified government test surfaces of
asphalt and concrete. A tire marked C may have poor
traction performance. Warning: The traction grade
assigned to this tire is based on straight-ahead braking
traction tests, and does not include acceleration,
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5-65

I Fuse I Usage I
Blank I Not Used
I PCM/CRANK I Powertrain Control Module (PCM),
Ignition Crank
I PASS KEY I PASS-Key@ Ill System I
I PWR LOCK I Power Door Locks I
I HTD MIRROR I Heated Mirrors I
I
RH T/LP I Driver’s Side Taillamp (Export Only) I
I
RR FOG LP I Fog Lamps (Export Only) I
CIGAR/DIC/
Auxiliary Power Outlets, Data Link
APO FRT Cigarette
Lighter, DIC, Front
I T/SIG I Turn Signal Switch I
PWR QTR
VENT Interior Lamp
and Multifunction
Switch (Power Vent Switch),
Auto Level
Windshield WiperNVasher Motor
and Switch
I HAZARD I Hazard Switch I
I RR PWR SCKT I Rear Electric Accessory Plug
Housing
I DRL Daytime Running
Lamp Control
Module Fuse
I Usage
LH T/LP
I
Passenger’s Side Taillamp
(Export Only)
RR DEFOG/ Rear Window Defogger Relay,
HTD MIRROR Heated Mirrors
ON STAR onstar@
SIR Inflatable Restraint Control Module HVAC
I Heater-A/C Control
BLOWER
MALL
CLUSTER Instrument Cluster, Body Control
Module, Electronic Level Control
(ELC) Sensor and Relay, Theft,
Door Ajar
STOP LAMP
I Stoplamp Switch
CLUSTER BATT Module/Electronic Brake Control
Module/Electronic Brake Traction
Control Module (EBCM/EBTCM)
Evaporative Emissions (EVAP)
Canister Vent Solenoid Valve,
All-Wheel Drive (AWD)
ENHANCED
Blank Not Used
ELC Air Compressor and ELC
Heiaht Sensor. Trailer Harness
5-98

L
Lamps Exterior
..... ......................................... 3-14
Lamps on Reminder
........................................ 3-14
Lap-§boulder Belt ................................... 1-28, 1-39
Interior
....................................................... 3-1 7
Lap Belt ........................................................ 1-37
Last Door Closed Locking
................................ 2-1 1
Last Door Locking ........................................... 2-65
LATCH System Child Restraints
......................................... 1-58
Securing a Child Restraint Designed for
the LATCH System
................................... 1-60
Leather ......................................................... 5-89
Leaving Your Vehicle With the
Liftgate
.......................................................... 2-22
Light
Air Bag Readiness
....................................... 3-43
LeavifiCJ
YGl.i7 L'shicle ....................................... L- n-i I3
Engine Running .......................................... 2-41
Anti-Lock Brake System Warning
................... 3-45
ut ane 3~31~1 I I v V~II I 111 3-44
Malfunction indicator .................. .......... 3-47
Safety Belt Reminder
................................... 3-42
TCS Warning Light
...................................... 3-46
Traction Control System (TCS) Warning
.......... 3-46
Lighted Vanity Mirror
....................................... 2-26
ne-i*- n a IAI - : .................................
Loading Your Vehicle ....................................... 4-34
Lockout Deterrent
........................................... 2-65
Lockout Protection
.......................................... 2-13
Locks
Automatic Door
........................................... 2-64
Door
........................................................... 2-9
Last Door Closed Locking
............................. 2-11
Leaving Your Vehicle .................................... 2-13
Lockout Protection
....................................... 2-13
Power Door
................................................ 2-10
Programmable Automatic Door Locks
............. 2-12
Loss
of Control ............................................... 4-16
Low Engine Oil Level Message
......................... 3-55
Low Fuel Warning Message
............................. 3-59
Low Oil Pressure Message ............................... 3-54
Luggage Carrier
.............................................. 2-56
Maintenance. Normal Replacement Parts .......... 5-1 05
Maintenance Schedule
At Fach F!!d Fill .................. ........... c;-!c!
At Least Once a Month ............. ........ 6-10
At Least Once a Year
........... ........ 6-11
At Least Twice a Year
.................................. 6-10
Brake System Inspection
.............................. 6-15
Engine Cooling System Inspection
................. 6-14
9

Throttle System Inspection ..... ................ 6-15
Tilt Wheel
................................ ................. 3-7
Tire Inflation Check
...................................... 6-10
Tires
..................................................... 5-60, 5-92
Buying New Tires
........................................ 5-64
Chains
....................................................... 5-67
Changing a Flat Tire
.................................... 5-70
If a Tire Goes Flat ....................................... 5-69
Inflation
- Tire Pressure ............................... 5-61
Inspection and Rotation
................................ 5-62
Wheel Alignment and Tire Balance
................. 5-66
When It
Is Time for New Tires ...................... 5-63
To Use the Engine Coolant Heater
.................... 2-35
Top of the Instrument Panel
............................. 5-89
Top Strap Anchor Location
............................... 1-56
Total Weight on Your Vehicle’s Tires .................. 4-39
Towing
Recreational Vehicle
..................................... 4-32
Towing a Trailer
.......................................... 4-36
Your Vehicle
............................................... 4-32
Active Message
........................................... 3-53
Compact
Spare Tire
..................................... 5-86
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
......................... 5-65
Wheel Replacement
..................................... 5-66
Top Strap
...................................................... 1-55
Torque Lock
................................................... 2-42
Traction Control System (TCS)
.................................. 4-10 Traction
(cont.)
Control System Warning Light
....................... 3-46
Service Traction System Warning Message
..... 3-52
Trailer Brakes
................................................. 4-40
Trailer Wiring Harness
..................................... 4-43
Transaxle
Transaxle Operation, Automatic
......................... 2-36
Transfer Case (Power Transfer Unit)
.................. 5-50
Transmission, Transaxle, Transfer Case Unit Repair Manual
...................................... 7-10
Fluid, Automatic
........................................... 5-20
Transportation Options
...................................... 7-7
Trip Computer
................................................ 3-62
Turn and Lane-Change Signals
.......................... 3-8
Turn SignaVMultifunction Lever
........................... 3-7
Turn Signals When Towing a Trailer
.................. 4-42
Underbody Flushing Service
............................. 6-13
Underhood Fuse Block
................................... 5-100
Understanding Radio Reception
....................... 3-1 03
Uniform Tire Quality Grading ............................ 5-65
United States
................................................... 7-4
Used Replacement Wheels
.............................. 5-67
Using Cleaner on Fabric
.................................. 5-88
Using HomeLink@
........................................... 2-52
16