2007 GMC YUKON XL steering

Theft-Deterrent Feature
THEFTLOCK®is designed to discourage theft of
your vehicle’s radio. The feature works
automatically by learning a portion of the Vehicle
Identication Number (VIN). If the radio is
moved to a different vehicle, it will not operate and
LOCKED will appear on the display.
When the radio and vehicle are turned off, the
blinking red light indicates that THEFTLOCK
®is
armed.
With THEFTLOCK
®activated, the radio will not
operate if stolen.
Audio Steering Wheel Controls
If your vehicle has audio
steering wheel controls,
they may be differ
depending on your
vehicle’s options. Some
audio controls can
be adjusted at
the steering wheel.
They include the
following:
xw(Next/Previous):Press the up or the down
arrow to go to the next or to the previous radio
station stored as a favorite.
When a CD/DVD is playing, press the up or the
down arrow to go to the next or previous track or
chapter.
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Your Driving, the Road, and
Your Vehicle.............................................340
Defensive Driving.......................................340
Drunken Driving.........................................341
Control of a Vehicle...................................344
Braking......................................................344
Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS)...................345
Braking in Emergencies..............................347
Locking Rear Axle......................................347
StabiliTrak
®System....................................348
Steering.....................................................351
Off-Road Recovery.....................................353
Passing......................................................353
Loss of Control..........................................355
Off-Road Driving.........................................356
Driving at Night..........................................373
Driving in Rain and on Wet Roads.............375
City Driving................................................378
Freeway Driving.........................................379Before Leaving on a Long Trip...................380
Highway Hypnosis......................................381
Hill and Mountain Roads............................382
Winter Driving............................................384
If Your Vehicle is Stuck in Sand, Mud,
Ice, or Snow...........................................388
Rocking Your Vehicle to Get It Out............388
Recovery Hooks.........................................389
Loading Your Vehicle.................................390
Adding a Snow Plow or Similar
Equipment..............................................396
Towing.........................................................400
Towing Your Vehicle..................................400
Recreational Vehicle Towing.......................401
Level Control..............................................404
Autoride
®....................................................405
Towing a Trailer.........................................405
Trailer Recommendations...........................422
Section 4 Driving Your Vehicle
339

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. See
StabiliTrak
®System on page 348.
Adding non-GM accessories can affect your
vehicle’s performance. SeeAccessories and
Modications on page 426.
Braking
SeeBrake System Warning Light on page 232.
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 your brakes; the weight of the vehicle;
and the amount of brake force applied.
Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive
in spurts — heavy acceleration followed by
heavy braking — rather than keeping pace with
traffic. This is a mistake. Your brakes may
not have time to cool between hard stops. Your
brakes will wear out much faster if you do a lot of
heavy braking.
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As you brake, your computer keeps receiving
updates on wheel speed and controls braking
pressure accordingly.
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, your locking rear
axle 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.
347

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.
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).
For 2500 series vehicles, if the vehicle has gone
through heavy acceleration or braking during
the rst 2 miles (3.2 km) after starting your vehicle,
these messages may also appear.For 1500 series vehicles, if these DIC messages
appear, make sure the StabiliTrack
®system
has not been turned off, then turn the steering
wheel through either the ten or two o’clock
positions. If this does not clear the message(s),
take your vehicle to the dealer for service. If this is
the case, your vehicle does not need servicing.
Turn your vehicle off and back on again to
reset the system. If any of these messages appear
on the Driver Information Center (DIC), and your
vehicle hasn’t gone through hard acceleration
or braking in the rst two miles, your vehicle
should be taken in for service. For more
information on the DIC messages, seeDriver
Information Center (DIC) on page 244.
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.
348

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 your 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 348.
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
your front wheels are straight ahead.
351

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 426.
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 your brakes.
SeeBraking on page 344. 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.
352

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.
353