2007 SATURN VUE Owners Manual

Care of Your CDs and DVDs
Handle CDs carefully. Store them in their original
cases or other protective cases and away from
direct sunlight and dust. The CD player scans the
bottom surface of the disc. If the surface of a CD is
damaged, such as cracked, broken, or scratched,
the CD does not play properly or not at all. If the
surface of a CD is soiled, take a soft, lint free cloth
or dampen a clean, soft cloth in a mild, neutral
detergent solution mixed with water, and clean it.
Make sure the wiping process starts from the center
to the edge.
Do not touch the bottom side of a CD while
handling it; this could damage the surface. Pick up
CDs by grasping the outer edges or the edge of
the hole and the outer edge.
Care of the CD and DVD Player
The use of CD lens cleaners for CDs is not
advised, due to the risk of contaminating the lens
of the CD optics with lubricants internal to the
CD mechanism.
Fixed Mast Antenna
The xed mast antenna can withstand most car
washes without being damaged. If the mast should
ever become slightly bent, straighten it out by
hand. If the mast is badly bent, replace it.
Check occasionally to make sure the mast is still
tightened to the antenna base. If tightening is
required, tighten by hand.
XM™ Satellite Radio
Antenna System
The XM™ Satellite Radio antenna is located on
the roof of your vehicle. Keep this antenna clear of
snow and ice build up for clear radio reception.
A vehicle with a sunroof might not get the
best performance from the XM™ system if the
sunroof is open.
Loading items onto the roof of your vehicle can
interfere with the performance of the XM™ system.
Make sure the XM™ Satellite Radio antenna is
not obstructed.
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✍NOTES
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Your Driving, the Road, and
Your Vehicle............................................ 228
Driver Behavior......................................... 228
Driving Environment.................................. 229
Vehicle Design.......................................... 229
Defensive Driving...................................... 230
Drunken Driving........................................ 231
Control of a Vehicle.................................. 234
Braking...................................................... 234
Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS).................. 235
Braking in Emergencies............................. 237
Traction Control System (TCS).................. 238
All-Wheel Drive (AWD) System.................. 239
Steering.................................................... 240
Off-Road Recovery.................................... 243
Passing..................................................... 243
Loss of Control.......................................... 245
Off-Road Driving........................................ 247Driving at Night......................................... 262
Driving in Rain and on Wet Roads............ 264
City Driving............................................... 267
Freeway Driving........................................ 268
Before Leaving on a Long Trip.................. 269
Highway Hypnosis..................................... 270
Hill and Mountain Roads........................... 270
Winter Driving........................................... 272
If Your Vehicle is Stuck in Sand,
Mud, Ice, or Snow................................. 276
Rocking Your Vehicle to Get It Out........... 277
Recovery Hook.......................................... 277
Loading Your Vehicle................................ 279
Towing........................................................ 284
Towing Your Vehicle................................. 284
Recreational Vehicle Towing...................... 285
Towing a Trailer........................................ 290
Section 4 Driving Your Vehicle
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Your Driving, the Road, and
Your Vehicle
Whenever we drive, we are taking on an
important responsibility. This is true for any
motor vehicle — passenger car, van, truck, sport
utility. Driver behavior, the driving environment,
and the vehicle’s design all affect how well
a vehicle performs. But statistics show that the
most important factor, by far, is how we drive.
Knowing how these three factors work together
can help you understand how your vehicle
handles and what you can do to avoid many
types of crashes, including a rollover crash.
Driver Behavior
The single most important thing is this: everyone in
the vehicle, including the driver, should buckle up.
SeeSafety Belts: They Are for Everyone on
page 20. In fact, most serious injuries and fatalities
to unbelted occupants can be reduced or prevented
by the use of safety belts. In a rollover crash,
an unbelted person is signicantly more likely to
die than a person wearing a seat belt. In addition,
avoiding excessive speed, sudden or abrupt turns,
and drunken or aggressive driving can help make
trips safer and avoid the possibility of a crash,
especially a rollover crash. This section provides
many useful tips to help you drive more safely.
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Driving Environment
You can also help avoid a rollover or other
type of crash by being prepared for driving in
inclement weather, at night, or during other times
where visibility or traction may be limited, such
as on curves, slippery roads, or hilly terrain.
Unfamiliar surroundings can also have hidden
hazards.
To help you learn more about driving in different
conditions, this section contains information
about city, freeway, and off-road driving,
as well as other hints for driving in various
weather conditions.
Vehicle Design
According to the U.S. Department of
Transportation, utility vehicles have a signicantly
higher rollover rate than other types of vehicles.
Utility vehicles do have higher ground clearance
and a narrower track or shorter wheelbase than
passenger cars, to make them more capable
for off-road driving. Specic design characteristics
like these give the driver a better view of the
road, but also give utility vehicles a higher center
of gravity than other types of vehicles. This means
that you should not expect a utility vehicle to
handle the same way a vehicle with a lower center
of gravity, like a car, would in similar situations.
But driver behavior factors are far more often
the cause of a utility vehicle rollover than are
environmental or vehicle factors. Safe driver
behavior and understanding the environment
in which you will be driving can help avoid
a rollover crash in any type of vehicle, including
utility vehicles.
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Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is:
Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in
your vehicle: Buckle up. SeeSafety Belts: They
Are for Everyone on page 20.{CAUTION:
Defensive driving really means “Be ready
for anything.” On city streets, rural roads,
or expressways, it means “Always expect
the unexpected.” Assume that pedestrians
or other drivers are going to be careless
and make mistakes. Anticipate what they
might do and be ready. Rear-end collisions
are about the most preventable of
accidents. Yet they are common. Allow
enough following distance. Defensive
driving requires that a driver concentrate
on the driving task. Anything that distracts
from the driving task makes proper
defensive driving more difficult and can
even cause a collision, with resulting
injury. Ask a passenger to help do these
things, or pull off the road in a safe place to
do them. These simple defensive driving
techniques could save your life.
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Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and
driving is a national tragedy. It is the number one
contributor to the highway death toll, claiming
thousands of victims every year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to
drive a vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
Vision
Attentiveness
Police records show that almost half of all motor
vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most
cases, these deaths are the result of someone who
was drinking and driving. In recent years, more
than 16,000 annual motor vehicle-related deaths
have been associated with the use of alcohol,
with more than 300,000 people injured.Many adults — by some estimates, nearly half
the adult population — choose never to drink
alcohol, so they never drive after drinking.
For persons under 21, it is against the law in
every U.S. state to drink alcohol. There are good
medical, psychological, and developmental
reasons for these laws.
The obvious way to eliminate the leading highway
safety problem is for people never to drink
alcohol and then drive. But what if people do?
How much is “too much” if someone plans
to drive? It is a lot less than many might think.
Although it depends on each person and situation,
here is some general information on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of
someone who is drinking depends upon four things:
The amount of alcohol consumed
The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that is consumed before
and during drinking
The length of time it has taken the drinker to
consume the alcohol
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According to the American Medical Association,
a 180 lb (82 kg) person who drinks three 12 ounce
(355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour will end up
with a BAC of about 0.06 percent. The person
would reach the same BAC by drinking three
4 ounce (120 ml) glasses of wine or three mixed
drinks if each had 1-1/2 ounces (45 ml) of
liquors like whiskey, gin, or vodka.It is the amount of alcohol that counts. For example,
if the same person drank three double martinis
(3 ounces or 90 ml of liquor each) within an hour,
the person’s BAC would be close to 0.12 percent.
A person who consumes food just before or during
drinking will have a somewhat lower BAC level.
There is a gender difference, too. Women
generally have a lower relative percentage of body
water than men. Since alcohol is carried in body
water, this means that a woman generally will
reach a higher BAC level than a man of her
same body weight will when each has the same
number of drinks.
The law in most U.S. states, and throughout
Canada, sets the legal limit at 0.08 percent.
In some other countries, the limit is even lower.
For example, it is 0.05 percent in both France
and Germany. The BAC limit for all commercial
drivers in the United States is 0.04 percent.
The BAC will be over 0.10 percent after three to
six drinks (in one hour). Of course, as we have
seen, it depends on how much alcohol is in the
drinks, and how quickly the person drinks them.
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