2007 CHEVROLET AVALANCHE steering

Your Driving, the Road, and Your Vehicle.... 352
Defensive Driving...................................... 352
Drunken Driving........................................ 353
Control of a Vehicle.................................. 356
Braking...................................................... 356
Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS).................. 357
Braking in Emergencies............................. 359
Locking Rear Axle..................................... 359
StabiliTrak
®System................................... 359
Steering.................................................... 363
Off-Road Recovery.................................... 365
Passing..................................................... 365
Loss of Control.......................................... 367
Off-Road Driving........................................ 368
Driving at Night......................................... 385
Driving in Rain and on Wet Roads............ 387
City Driving............................................... 390
Freeway Driving........................................ 391Before Leaving on a Long Trip.................. 392
Highway Hypnosis..................................... 393
Hill and Mountain Roads........................... 394
Winter Driving........................................... 396
If Your Vehicle is Stuck in Sand,
Mud, Ice, or Snow ................................. 400
Rocking Your Vehicle to Get It Out........... 400
Recovery Hooks........................................ 401
Loading Your Vehicle................................ 402
Truck-Camper Loading Information............ 407
Towing........................................................ 408
Towing Your Vehicle ................................. 408
Recreational Vehicle Towing...................... 408
Level Control............................................. 413
Towing a Trailer........................................ 414
Trailer Recommendations.......................... 428
Section 4 Driving Your Vehicle
351

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.
SeeStabiliTrak
®System on page 359.
Adding non-GM accessories can affect your
vehicle’s performance. SeeAccessories and
Modications on page 433.
Braking
SeeBrake System Warning Light on page 246.
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.
356

Remember: ABS does not 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 will
not 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 ABS.
Using ABS
Do not pump the brakes. Just hold the brake
pedal down rmly and let anti-lock work for you.
You may feel the brakes vibrate, or you may
notice some noise, but this is normal.
Braking in Emergencies
With ABS, you can steer and brake at the same
time. In many emergencies, steering can help
you more than even the very best braking.
Locking Rear Axle
If your vehicle has this feature, it can give you
additional traction on snow, mud, ice, sand
or gravel. It works like a standard axle most of the
time, but when one of the rear wheels has no
traction and the other does, this feature will allow
the wheel with traction to move the vehicle.
StabiliTrak®System
Your vehicle may be equipped with the
StabiliTrak®system which combines antilock
brake, traction and stability control systems and
helps the driver maintain directional control of
the vehicle in most driving conditions.
When you rst start your vehicle and begin to
drive away, the system performs several diagnostic
checks to ensure there are no problems. You
may hear or feel the system working. This
is normal and does not mean there is a problem
with your vehicle. The system should initialize
before the vehicle reaches 20 mph (32 km/h).
In some cases, it may take approximately
two miles of driving before the system initializes.
359

If the system fails to turn on or activate, the
StabiliTrak®light along with one of the following
messages will be displayed on the Driver
Information Center (DIC): TRACTION CONTROL
OFF, SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL,
STABILITRAK OFF, SERVICE STABILITRAK.
If these DIC messages appear, make sure
the StabiliTrak
®system has not been turned off
using the StabiliTrak®on/off button. Then turn the
steering wheel clockwise from the nine o’clock
position to the three o’clock position. If this clears
the message(s), your vehicle does not need
servicing. If this does not clear the message(s),
then turn the vehicle off, wait 15 seconds, and then
turn it back on again to reset the system. If any
of these messages still appear on the Driver
Information Center (DIC), your vehicle should be
taken in for service. For more information on
the DIC messages, seeDriver Information
Center (DIC) on page 257.The StabiliTrak
®light
will ash on the
instrument panel cluster
when the system is
both on and activated.
You may also feel or hear the system working;
this is normal.
The traction control
disable button
is located on
the instrument
panel below the
climate controls.
The traction control part of StabiliTrak
®can
be turned off by pressing and releasing the
StabiliTrak
®button if both systems (traction control
and StabiliTrak®) were previously on. To disable
both traction control and StabiliTrak®, press
and hold the button for ve seconds.
360

Steering
Power Steering
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
It is important to take curves at a reasonable
speed.
A lot of the “driver lost control” accidents
mentioned on the news happen on curves.
Here is 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 is no traction, inertia will keep the
vehicle going in the same direction. If you have
ever tried to steer a vehicle on wet ice, you
will understand this.The traction you can get in a curve depends on
the condition of the tires and the road surface,
the angle at which the curve is banked, and your
speed. While you are in a curve, speed is the
one factor you can control.
Suppose you are steering through a sharp curve.
Then you suddenly accelerate. Both control
systems — steering and acceleration — have
to do their work where the tires meet the road.
Adding the sudden acceleration can demand
too much of those places. You can lose control.
SeeStabiliTrak
®System on page 359.
What should you do if this ever happens? Ease up
on the accelerator pedal, steer the vehicle the
way you want it to go, and slow down.
Speed limit signs near curves warn that you
should adjust your speed. Of course, the posted
speeds are based on good weather and road
conditions. Under less favorable conditions you will
want to go slower.
If you need to reduce your speed as you approach
a curve, do it before you enter the curve, while
the front wheels are straight ahead.
363

Try to adjust your speed so you can “drive”
through the curve. Maintain a reasonable, steady
speed. Wait to accelerate until you are out of
the curve, and then accelerate gently into
the straightaway.
Adding non-GM accessories can affect your
vehicle’s performance. SeeAccessories and
Modications on page 433.
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 the brakes. SeeBraking
on page 356. 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.
364

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.
365

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,
if 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.
Loss of Control
Let us review what driving experts say about what
happens when the three control systems — brakes,
steering, and acceleration — do not have enough
friction where the tires meet the road to do what the
driver has asked.
In any emergency, do not 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 are not 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.
367