2005 CHEVROLET EQUINOX roof

Seats and Restraint Systems........................... 1-1
Front Seats
............................................... 1-2
Rear Seats
............................................... 1-9
Safety Belts
.............................................1-11
Child Restraints
.......................................1-30
Airbag System
.........................................1-50
Restraint System Check
............................1-60
Features and Controls..................................... 2-1
Keys
........................................................ 2-2
Doors and Locks
....................................... 2-6
Windows
.................................................2-11
Theft-Deterrent Systems
............................2-13
Starting and Operating Your Vehicle
...........2-15
Mirrors
....................................................2-27
OnStar
®System
......................................2-32
Storage Areas
.........................................2-34
Sunroof
..................................................2-41
Instrument Panel............................................. 3-1
Instrument Panel Overview
.......................... 3-4
Climate Controls
......................................3-19
Warning Lights, Gages, and Indicators
........3-23
Audio System(s)
.......................................3-39Driving Your Vehicle....................................... 4-1
Your Driving, the Road, and Your Vehicle
..... 4-2
Towing
...................................................4-34
Service and Appearance Care.......................... 5-1
Service
..................................................... 5-3
Fuel
......................................................... 5-5
Checking Things Under the Hood
...............5-10
All-Wheel Drive
........................................5-41
Bulb Replacement
....................................5-43
Windshield Wiper Blade Replacement
.........5-48
Tires
......................................................5-49
Appearance Care
.....................................5-74
Vehicle Identication
.................................5-83
Electrical System
......................................5-84
Capacities and Specications
.....................5-89
Maintenance Schedule..................................... 6-1
Maintenance Schedule
................................ 6-2
Customer Assistance and Information.............. 7-1
Customer Assistance and Information
........... 7-2
Reporting Safety Defects
...........................7-10
Index................................................................ 1
2005 Chevrolet Equinox Owner ManualM

6. To tighten the belt, push down on the child restraint,
pull the shoulder portion of the belt to tighten the
lap portion of the belt and feed the shoulder
belt back into the retractor. You may nd it helpful
to use your knee to push down on the child
restraint as you tighten the belt.
7. Push and pull the child restraint in different
directions to be sure it is secure.
To remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle’s
safety belt and let it go back all the way. The safety
belt will move freely again and be ready to work for an
adult or larger child passenger.
Airbag System
Your vehicle has a frontal airbag for the driver and a
frontal airbag for the right front passenger. Your vehicle
may also have roof-mounted side impact airbags.
Roof-mounted side impact airbags are available for the
driver and the passenger seated directly behind the
driver and for the right front passenger and the
passenger seated directly behind that passenger.
If your vehicle has side impact airbags, the words AIR
BAG will appear on the airbag covering on the
ceiling near the driver’s and right front passenger’s
window.
Frontal airbags are designed to help reduce the risk of
injury from the force of an inating frontal airbag.
But these airbags must inate very quickly to do their
job and comply with federal regulations.
1-50

Here are the most important things to know about the
airbag system:
{CAUTION:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash
if you are not wearing your safety belt — even
if you have airbags. Wearing your safety belt
during a crash helps reduce your chance of
hitting things inside the vehicle or being
ejected from it. Airbags are “supplemental
restraints” to the safety belts. All airbags are
designed to work with safety belts but do not
replace them.
Frontal airbags for the driver and right front
passenger are designed to deploy in moderate
to severe frontal and near frontal crashes.
They are not designed to inate in rollover,
rear or low-speed frontal crashes, or in many
side crashes. And, for some unrestrained
occupants, frontal airbags may provide less
protection in frontal crashes than more
forceful airbags have provided in the past.
CAUTION: (Continued)
CAUTION: (Continued)
Roof-mounted side impact airbags are
designed to inate in moderate to severe
crashes where something hits the side of your
vehicle. They are not designed to inate in
frontal, in rollover or in rear crashes. Everyone
in your vehicle should wear a safety belt
properly — whether or not there is an airbag
for that person.
1-51

{CAUTION:
If something is between an occupant and an
airbag, the bag might not inate properly or it
might force the object into that person causing
severe injury or even death. The path of an
inating airbag must be kept clear. Do not put
anything between an occupant and an airbag,
and do not attach or put anything on the
steering wheel hub or on or near any other
airbag covering. And, if your vehicle has
roof-mounted side impact airbags, never
secure anything to the roof of your vehicle by
routing the rope or tiedown through any door
or window opening. If you do, the path of an
inating side impact airbag will be blocked.
The path of an inating airbag must be kept
clear.
When Should an Airbag Inate?
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal airbags
are designed to inate in moderate to severe frontal
or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to inate
only if the impact exceeds a predetermined deployment
threshold. Deployment thresholds take into account
a variety of desired deployment and non-deployment
events and are used to predict how severe a crash
is likely to be in time for the airbags to inate and help
restrain the occupants. Whether your frontal airbags
will or should deploy is not based on how fast your
vehicle is traveling. It depends largely on what you hit,
the direction of the impact and how quickly your
vehicle slows down.
If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall that
does not move or deform, the threshold level is
about 9 to 14 mph (14 to 23 km/h). (The threshold level
can vary, however, with specic vehicle design, so
that it can be somewhat above or below this range.)
1-55

What Will You See After an Airbag
Inates?
After an air bag inates, it quickly deates, so quickly
that some people may not even realize the air bag
inated. Some components of the air bag module will be
hot for a short time. These components include the
steering wheel hub for the driver’s frontal air bag and the
instrument panel for the right front passenger’s frontal
air bag. For vehicles with roof-mounted side impact
airbags, the ceiling of your vehicle near the side
windows, and the vehicle metal near the rear windows
and tailgate may be warm. The parts of the airbag
that come into contact with you may be warm, but not
too hot to touch. There will be some smoke and
dust coming from the vents in the deated air bags. Air
bag ination does not prevent the driver from seeing
or being able to steer the vehicle, nor does it stop
people from leaving the vehicle.
{CAUTION:
When an airbag inates, there is dust in the
air. This dust could cause breathing problems
for people with a history of asthma or other
breathing trouble. To avoid this, everyone in
the vehicle should get out as soon as it is safe
to do so. If you have breathing problems but
cannot get out of the vehicle after an airbag
inates, then get fresh air by opening a
window or a door. If you experience breathing
problems following an airbag deployment, you
should seek medical attention.
In many crashes severe enough to inate an air bag,
windshields are broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage may also occur from the
right front passenger air bag.
1-58

Your vehicle has a feature that will automatically unlock
the doors and turn the interior dome lamp on and
ash the parklamps on and off when the air bags inate
(if battery power is available.) You can lock the doors
again and turn the interior lamps off by using the
door lock and interior lamp controls.
Air bags are designed to inate only once. After an
air bag inates, you will need some new parts for
your air bag system. If you do not get them, the air
bag system will not be there to help protect you
in another crash. A new system will include air bag
modules and possibly other parts. The service
manual for your vehicle covers the need to replace
other parts.
Your vehicle is equipped with a crash sensing and
diagnostic module which records information after
a crash. SeeVehicle Data Collection and Event
Data Recorders on page 7-9.
Let only qualied technicians work on your air bag
system. Improper service can mean that your air
bag system will not work properly. See your dealer
for service.Notice:If you damage the covering for the driver’s
or the right front passenger’s airbag, or the side
impact airbag covering on the ceiling near the side
windows, the airbag may not work properly. You
may have to replace the airbag module in the
steering wheel, both the airbag module and the
instrument panel for the right front passenger’s
airbag, or side impact airbag module and ceiling
covering for roof-mounted side impact airbags. Do
not open or break the airbag coverings.
1-59

Keys...............................................................2-2
Remote Keyless Entry System.........................2-3
Remote Keyless Entry System Operation...........2-4
Doors and Locks.............................................2-6
Door Locks....................................................2-6
Power Door Locks..........................................2-7
Delayed Locking.............................................2-7
Programmable Automatic Door Locks................2-8
Rear Door Security Locks................................2-8
Lockout Protection..........................................2-9
Liftgate........................................................2-10
Windows........................................................2-11
Power Windows............................................2-12
Sun Visors...................................................2-12
Theft-Deterrent Systems..................................2-13
Content Theft-Deterrent.................................2-13
Passlock
®....................................................2-15
Starting and Operating Your Vehicle................2-15
New Vehicle Break-In....................................2-15
Ignition Positions..........................................2-16
Retained Accessory Power (RAP)...................2-16
Starting the Engine.......................................2-17
Engine Coolant Heater..................................2-18
Automatic Transaxle Operation.......................2-19
Parking Brake..............................................2-22
Shifting Into Park (P).....................................2-23Shifting Out of Park (P).................................2-24
Parking Over Things That Burn.......................2-25
Engine Exhaust............................................2-25
Running the Engine While Parked...................2-26
Mirrors...........................................................2-27
Manual Rearview Mirror.................................2-27
Automatic Dimming Rearview Mirror with
OnStar
®, Compass and Temperature
Display....................................................2-27
Automatic Dimming Rearview Mirror with
Compass and Temperature Display..............2-29
Outside Power Mirrors...................................2-31
Outside Convex Mirrors.................................2-32
OnStar
®System.............................................2-32
Storage Areas................................................2-34
Glove Box...................................................2-34
Cupholder(s)................................................2-34
Coinholder(s)................................................2-34
Center Console Storage Area.........................2-34
Garment Hooks............................................2-34
Luggage Carrier...........................................2-35
Rear Compartment Storage Panel/Cover..........2-37
Table..........................................................2-39
Convenience Net..........................................2-41
Cargo Tie Downs..........................................2-41
Sunroof.........................................................2-41
Section 2 Features and Controls
2-1

Luggage Carrier
{CAUTION:
If you try to carry something on top of your
vehicle that is longer or wider than the luggage
carrier — like paneling, plywood, a mattress
and so forth — the wind can catch it as you
drive along. This can cause you to lose
control. What you are carrying could be
violently torn off, and this could cause you or
other drivers to have a collision, and of course
damage your vehicle. You may be able to carry
something like this inside. But, never carry
something longer or wider than the luggage
carrier on top of your vehicle.
A luggage carrier allows you to load things on top of
your vehicle. The luggage carrier has side rails attached
to the roof, sliding crossrails (if equipped) and places
to use for tying things down. These let you load
some things on top of your vehicle, as long as they
are not wider or longer than the luggage carrier.The roof rack crossrails can be locked in
four positions only.
2-35