ESP PONTIAC GRAND AM 2003 Owners Manual

or the safety belts!
With safety belts, you slow down as the vehicle does.
Yn~r rpt more time to stop. You stop over more distance,
and your strongest bones take the forces. That’s why
safety belts make such good sense.
Questions and Answers About
Safety Belts
Q: Won’t I be trapped in the vehicle after an
accident id I’m wearing a safety belt?
A: You could 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 much greater if
you are belted.
Q: If my vehicle has air bags, why should I have to
wear safety belts?
A: 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 with
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 oniy in frontal collisions,
but especially in side and other collisions.
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1-13

Doors and Locks
Unlocked doors can be dangerous. Passengers
- especially children - can
easily open the doors and fall out of a
moving vehicle. When a door is locked, the
handle won’t open
it. You increase the
chance of being thrown out of the vehicle
in a crash
if the doors aren’t locked. So,
wear safety belts properly and lock the
doors whenever you drive.
Young children who get into unlocked
vehicles may be unable to get out.
A child
can be overcome by extreme heat and can
SIJffer permanent injuries or even death
from heat stroke. Always lock your vehicle
whenever you leave
it.
Outsiders can easily enter through an
unlocked door when you slow down or
stop your vehicle. Locking your doors can heip
prevent this from happening.
There are several ways to lock and unlock your vehicle.
From the outside, use your key or remote keyless
entry system,
if your vehicle is equipped with this
feature. If your vehicle
has remote keyless entry, you
can only use your key
to unlock the driver’s side door
2-7

Windows
Leaving children in a vehicle with the windows
closed
is dangerous. A child can be overcome
by the extreme heat and can suffer permanent
injuries or even death from heat stroke. Never
leave
a child alone in a vehicle, especially with
the windows closed in warm or hot weather.
I
Manual Windows
On a vehicle with manual windows, use the window
crank to open and close each window.
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Theft-Deterrent Systems
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.
Your vehicle has the Passlock@ theft-deterrent system.
Passlock@ is a passive theft-deterrent system.
Passlock@ enables fuel
if the ignition lock cylinder has
not been tampered with. During normal operation, the SECURITY light will
go
off
approximately five seconds after the ignition key is
turned to
ON and the engine is started.
After attempting to start the engine,
if the SECURITY
light flashes or stays on, wait ten minutes with the key in
ON until the light goes off. Then turn the ignition to
OFF before attempting to start the engine again.
See
Roadside Assistance Program on page 7-5 for
more information.
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Exterior Lamps
The lever on the left side of the steering column
operates the exterior lamps.
-g- (Exterior Lamps): Turn the outside part of the
lever with the symboi on
it, to operate tne iamps.
The exterior lamp control has three positions:
pf (Parking Lamps): Turning the control to this
position turns
on the parking lamps, together with the
following.
0 Sidemarker Lamps
0 Taillamps
e License Plate Lamps
0 Instrument Panel Lights
- - ED (Headlamps): Turning the control to this position
turns on the headlamps, together with the previously
listed lamps and lights.
AUTO: Turning the control to this position turns the
headlamps, taillamps and parking lamps on and
off automatically, while the ignition is on, by sensing
how dark it is outside. For more information see
“Automatic Headlamp System” later in this section.
Daytime Running Lamps (DRL)
nq~time R~Inning l_~~y.np (DRL) r,a.n make it ewier 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. Fully functional
daytime running lamps are required on all vehicles
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3-1 3

Understanding Radio Reception
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.
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.
XMTM Satellite Radio Service
XMTM Satellite Radio gives you digital radio reception
from coast
to coast. Just as with FM, tall buildings
or hills can interfere with Satellite radio signals, causing
the sound
to come and go. Your radio may display
"NO SIGNAL"
to indicate interference.
DAB Radio
DAB gives you digital radio reception. Just as with FM,
tall buildings or hills can interfere with radio signals,
causing the sound
to come and go. Your radio
may display
"NO SIGNAL" to indicate interference.
Care of Your Cassette Tape Player
A tape player that is not cleaned regularly can cause
reduced sound quality, ruined cassettes or a damaged
mechanism. Cassette tapes should be stored in their
cases away from contaminants, direct sunlight and
extreme heat. If they aren't, they may not operate
properly or may cause failure of the tape player.
Your tape player should be cleaned regularly after every
50 hours of use. Your radio will display CLEAN
PLAYER to indicate that you have used your tape
player for
50 hours without resetting the tape clean
timer. If this message appears on the display, your
cassette tape player needs
to be cleaned. It will still play
tapes, but you should clean it as soon as possible
to
prevent damage to your tapes and player. If you notice
a reduction in sound quality, try a known good
cassette to see
if the tape or the tape player is at fault.
If this other cassette has no improvement in sound
quality, clean the tape player.
3-70

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.
“1’11 be careful” isn’t the right
answer. What
if there’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.
dl CAUTION:
-
Drinking and then driving is very dangerous.
Your reflexes, perceptions, attentiveness and
judgement 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.
4-5

Remember: Anti-lock doesn’t change the time you need
to get your foot up to the brake pedal or always
decrease stopping distance. If you get
too close to the
vehicle in front of you, you won’t have time to apply
your brakes
if that vehicle suddenly slows or stops.
Always leave enough room up ahead
to stop, even
though you have anti-lock brakes.
Using Anti-Lock
Don’t pump the brakes. Just hold the brake pedal down
firmly and let anti-lock work for you. You may feel a
slight brake pedal pulsation or notice some noise, but
this is normal.
Braking in Emergencies
At some time, nearly every driver gets into a situation
that requires hard braking.
If you have anti-lock, you can steer and brake at the
same time. However,
if you don’t have anti-lock,
your first reaction
- to hit the brake pedal hard and hold
it down
- may be the wrong thing to do. Your wheels
can stop rolling. Once they do, the vehicle can’t respond
to your steering. Momentum will carry it in whatever
direction it was headed when the wheels stopped rolling.
That could be
off the road, into the very thing you
LAtara tnrinn tn 9 rni VGI G 11 yll ILJ 1W ,\,Id, Gr intG traffic. If
you don’t have anti-lock, use a “squeeze” braking
technique. This will give you maximum braking while
maintaining steering control. You can do this by pushing
on the brake pedal with steadily increasing pressure.
In an emergency, you will probably want
to squeeze the
brakes hard without locking the wheels. If you hear or
feel the wheels sliding, ease
off the brake pedal.
This will help you retain steering control. If you
do have
anti-lock,
it’s different. See “Anti-Lock Brakes.’’
In many emergencies, steering can help you more than
even the very best braking.
Enhanced Traction System (ETS)
Your vehicle may have an Enhanced Traction System
(ETS) that limits wheel spin. This is especially useful in
slippery road conditions. The system operates only
if
it senses that one or both of the front wheels are
spinning or beginning
to lose traction. When this
happens, the system reduces engine power and may
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4-9

To limit wheel spin, especially in slippery road
conditions, you should always leave the Enhanced
Traction System on. But you can turn the system
off if
you prefer.
To turn the system on or off, press the ETS button on
the instrument panel.
When you turn the system
off, the Enhanced Traction
System warning light will come on and stay on.
If
the Enhanced Traction System is limiting wheel spin
when you press the button
to turn the system off,
the warning light will come on
- but the system won’t
turn
off right away. It will wait until there’s no longer
a current need
to limit wheel spin.
You can turn the system back on at any time by
pressing the button again. The Enhanced Traction
System warning light should go off.
Steering
Power Steerin
If you lose power steering assist because the engine
stops or the system is not functioning, you can steer but
it will take much more effort.
Steering Tips
Driving on Curves
It’s important to take curves at a reasonable speed.
A lot of the “driver lost control” accidents mentioned on
the news happen on curves. Here’s why:
Experienced driver or beginner, each of us is subject
to
the same laws of physics when driving on curves.
The traction of the tires against the road surface makes
it possible
for the vehicle to change its path when
you turn the front wheels.
If there’s no traction, inertia
will keep the vehicle going in the same direction. If
you’ve ever tried to steer a vehicle on wet ice, you’ll
understand this.
The traction you can get in a curve depends on the
condition of your tires and the road surface, the angle at
which the curve
is banked, and your speed. While
you’re in a curve, speed
is the one factor you can
control.
4-1 1

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.
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’s 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’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 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 isn’t
trying to pass you as you pull out to pass the
slow
vehicle. Remember to glance over your shoulder
and check the blind spot.
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