Black plate (7,1)Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual - 2011
Driving and Operating 9-7Of course, traction is reduced when
water, snow, ice, gravel, or other
material is on the road. For safety,
slow down and adjust your driving to
these conditions. It is important to
slow down on slippery surfaces
because stopping distance is longer
and vehicle control more limited.
While driving on a surface with
reduced traction, try to avoid
sudden steering, acceleration,
or braking, including reducing
vehicle speed by shifting to a lower
gear. Any sudden changes could
cause the tires to slide. You might
not realize the surface is slippery
until the vehicle is skidding. Learn to
recognize warning clues — such as
enough water, ice, or packed snow
on the road to make a mirrored
surface — and slow down when
you have any doubt.
Remember: Antilock brakes help
avoid only the braking skid. Off-Road Driving Vehicles with all ‐ wheel drive can be
used for off ‐ road driving. Vehicles
without all ‐ wheel drive and vehicles
with 22 ‐ inch tire/wheel assemblies
should not be driven off-road except
on a level, solid surface.
Many of the vehicle design features
that help make the vehicle more
responsive on paved roads during
poor weather conditions also help
make it better suited for off ‐ road
use than conventional passenger
vehicles. The vehicle does not
have features usually thought to be
necessary for extended or severe
off ‐ road use such as special
underbody shielding and transfer
case low gear range.
The airbag system is designed to
work properly under a wide range of
conditions, including off ‐ road usage.
Always wear your safety belt and
observe safe driving speeds,
especially on rough terrain. Drinking and driving can be very
dangerous on any road and this is
certainly true for off-road driving.
At the very time you need special
alertness and driving skills, your
reflexes, perceptions, and judgment
can be affected by even a small
amount of alcohol. You could have a
serious — or even fatal — accident
if you drink and drive or ride with a
driver who has been drinking.
Off-roading can be great fun but has
some definite hazards. The greatest
of these is the terrain itself. When
off-road driving, traffic lanes are not
marked, curves are not banked, and
there are no road signs. Surfaces
can be slippery, rough, uphill,
or downhill.
Avoid sharp turns and abrupt
maneuvers. Failure to operate the
vehicle correctly off ‐ road could
result in loss of vehicle control or
vehicle rollover.
Black plate (32,1)Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual - 2011
9-32 Driving and Operating
Ignition Positions
The ignition switch has four different
positions.
To shift out of P (Park), the
ignition must be in ON/RUN or
ACC/ACCESSORY and the regular
brake pedal must be applied. A (STOPPING THE ENGINE/
LOCK/OFF): When the vehicle is
stopped, turn the ignition switch to
LOCK/OFF to turn the engine off.
Retained Accessory Power (RAP)
will remain active. See Retained
Accessory Power (RAP) on
page 9 ‑ 35 .
This position locks the ignition.
It may also lock the steering wheel
and automatic transmission. The
key can be removed in LOCK/OFF.
Do not turn the engine off when the
vehicle is moving. This will cause a
loss of power assist in the brake
and steering systems and disable
the airbags. In an emergency:
1. Brake using a firm and steady
pressure. Do not pump the
brakes repeatedly. This may
deplete power assist, requiring
increased brake pedal force.
2. Shift the vehicle to N (Neutral).
This can be done while the
vehicle is moving. After shifting
to N (Neutral), firmly apply the
brakes and steer the vehicle
to a safe location.
3. Come to a complete stop, shift
to P (Park), and turn the ignition
to LOCK/OFF. On vehicles with
an automatic transmission, the
shift lever must be in P (Park) to
turn the ignition switch to the
LOCK/OFF position.
4. Set the parking brake. See
Parking Brake on page 9 ‑ 46 .
Black plate (4,1)Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual - 2011
10-4 Vehicle Care
Vehicle Checks Doing Your Own
Service Work If the vehicle is a hybrid, see
the hybrid supplement for more
information.
{ WARNINGYou can be injured and the
vehicle could be damaged if you
try to do service work on a vehicle
without knowing enough about it. .
Be sure you have sufficient
knowledge, experience,
the proper replacement
parts, and tools before
attempting any vehicle
maintenance task.
(Continued) WARNING (Continued) .
Be sure to use the proper
nuts, bolts, and other
fasteners. Metric and English
fasteners can be easily
confused. If the wrong
fasteners are used, parts can
later break or fall off. You
could be hurt.
If doing some of your own service
work, use the proper service
manual. It tells you much more
about how to service the vehicle
than this manual can. To order the
proper service manual, see Service
Publications Ordering Information
on page 13 ‑ 15 . This vehicle has an airbag system.
Before attempting to do your own
service work, see Airbag System
Check on page 3 ‑ 50 .
Keep a record with all parts receipts
and list the mileage and the date
of any service work performed.
See Maintenance Records on
page 11 ‑ 10 .
Black plate (14,1)Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual - 2011
13-14 Customer Information If the vehicle is leased, the leasing
company may require you to have
insurance that ensures repairs with
Genuine GM Original Equipment
Manufacturer (OEM) parts or
Genuine Manufacturer replacement
parts. Read the lease carefully, as
you may be charged at the end of
the lease for poor quality repairs.
If a Crash Occurs If there has been an injury, call
emergency services for help. Do not
leave the scene of a crash until all
matters have been taken care of.
Move the vehicle only if its position
puts you in danger, or you are
instructed to move it by a police
officer.
Give only the necessary information
to police and other parties involved
in the crash.
For emergency towing see
Roadside Service (U.S. and
Canada) on page 13 ‑ 7 or Roadside
Service (Mexico) on page 13 ‑ 10 . Gather the following information: .
Driver name, address, and
telephone number. .
Driver license number. .
Owner name, address, and
telephone number. .
Vehicle license plate number. .
Vehicle make, model, and
model year. .
Vehicle Identification
Number (VIN). .
Insurance company and policy
number. .
General description of the
damage to the other vehicle.
Choose a reputable repair facility
that uses quality replacement parts.
See “ Collision Parts ” earlier in this
section.
If the airbag has inflated, see What
Will You See After an Airbag
Inflates? on page 3 ‑ 42 . Managing the Vehicle Damage
Repair Process In the event that the vehicle requires
damage repairs, GM recommends
that you take an active role in its
repair. If you have a pre-determined
repair facility of choice, take the
vehicle there, or have it towed there.
Specify to the facility that any
required replacement collision parts
be original equipment parts, either
new Genuine GM parts or recycled
original GM parts. Remember,
recycled parts will not be covered by
the GM vehicle warranty.
Insurance pays the bill for the repair,
but you must live with the repair.
Depending on your policy limits,
your insurance company may
initially value the repair using
aftermarket parts. Discuss this
with the repair professional, and
insist on Genuine GM parts.
Black plate (18,1)Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual - 2011
13-18 Customer Information
Event Data Recorders This vehicle has an Event Data
Recorder (EDR). The main purpose
of an EDR is to record, in certain
crash or near crash-like situations,
such as an airbag deployment or
hitting a road obstacle, data that will
assist in understanding how a
vehicle's systems performed. The
EDR is designed to record data
related to vehicle dynamics and
safety systems for a short period of
time, typically 30 seconds or less.
The EDR in this vehicle is designed
to record such data as: .
How various systems in the
vehicle were operating. .
Whether or not the driver and
passenger safety belts were
buckled/fastened. .
How far, if at all, the driver was
pressing the accelerator and/or
brake pedal. .
How fast the vehicle was
traveling. This data can help provide a better
understanding of the circumstances
in which crashes and injuries occur.
Important: EDR data is recorded
by the vehicle only if a non-trivial
crash situation occurs; no data is
recorded by the EDR under normal
driving conditions and no personal
data (e.g., name, gender, age, and
crash location) is recorded.
However, other parties, such as law
enforcement, could combine the
EDR data with the type of
personally identifying data routinely
acquired during a crash
investigation.
To read data recorded by an EDR,
special equipment is required, and
access to the vehicle or the EDR is
needed. In addition to the vehicle
manufacturer, other parties, such as
law enforcement, that have the
special equipment, can read the
information if they have access to
the vehicle or the EDR. GM will not access this data or
share it with others except: with the
consent of the vehicle owner or,
if the vehicle is leased, with the
consent of the lessee; in response
to an official request by police or
similar government office; as part of
GM's defense of litigation through
the discovery process; or, as
required by law. Data that GM
collects or receives may also be
used for GM research needs or may
be made available to others for
research purposes, where a need is
shown and the data is not tied to a
specific vehicle or vehicle owner.
Black plate (6,1)Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual - 2011
i-6 INDEX High-Beam On Light . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
High-Speed Operation . . . . . . . . 10-54
Highway Hypnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-20
Hill and Mountain Roads . . . . . . . 9-20
Hood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-5
Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
How to Wear Safety Belts
Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
IIgnition Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-32
Ignition Transmission Lock
Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-31
Immobilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14
Infants and Young Children,
Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-53
Infotainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
Instrument Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-12
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
JJump Starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-82 K Key and Lock Messages . . . . . . . 5-35
Keyless Entry
Remote (RKE) System . . . . . . . . 2-3
Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
L Labeling, Tire Sidewall . . . . . . . . 10-48
Lamp Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-35
Lamps
Daytime Running (DRL) . . . . . . . 6-6
Dome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-10
Exterior Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Exterior Lamps Off
Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
License Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-37
Malfunction Indicator . . . . . . . . . 5-18
On Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-11
Lap Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-33
Lap-Shoulder Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-27
LATCH System
Replacing Parts After a
Crash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-67 LATCH, Lower Anchors and
Tethers for Children . . . . . . . . . . 3-59
LED Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-36
Level Control
Automatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-50
Liftgate
Carbon Monoxide . . . . . . . . 2-9, 2-10
Lighter, Cigarette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-10
Lighting
Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-11
Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-11
Illumination Control . . . . . . . . . . . 6-10
LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-36
Lights
Airbag Readiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16
Antilock Brake System
(ABS) Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22
Brake System Warning . . . . . . . 5-21
Charging System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-18
Cruise Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
Engine Oil Pressure . . . . . . . . . . 5-24
Flash-to-Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Front Fog Lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
High-Beam On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
Black plate (8,1)Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV Owner Manual - 2011
i-8 INDEX
NNavigation
Destination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-69
Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-64
Using the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-60
Vehicle Data Recording
and Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-19
New Vehicle Break-In . . . . . . . . . . 9-30
OObject Detection System
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-36
Object Detection, Side Blind
Zone Alert (SBZA) . . . . . . . . . . . 9-56
Odometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-13
Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-13
Off-Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7
Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7
Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6
Oil
Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-7
Engine Oil Life System . . . . . 10-10
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-34
Pressure Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-24 Older Children, Restraints . . . . . 3-51
Online Owner Center . . . . . . . . . . 13-6
OnStar ®
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-24
Ordering
Service Publications . . . . . . . . 13-15
Outlets
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9
Overheated Engine
Protection
Operating Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-22
Overheating, Engine . . . . . . . . . . 10-20
Overview, Infotainment
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3
P Park
Shifting Into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-36
Shifting Out of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-37
Park Tilt Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-18
Parking
Assist, Ultrasonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-54
Brake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-46
Brake and P (Park)
Mechanism Check . . . . . . . . 10-32
Over Things That Burn . . . . . . . 9-38 Passenger Airbag Status
Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16
Passenger Sensing System . . . 3-44
Perchlorate Materials
Requirements, California . . . . . 10-3
Personalization
Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-40
Phone
Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-103
Power
Door Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7
Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-16
Outlets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9
Protection, Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-12
Retained Accessory (RAP) . . . 9-35
Seat Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3
Steering Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-23
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20
Power Assist Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13
Pregnancy, Using Safety
Belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-32
Privacy
Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) . . . . . . . 13-19
Problems with Route
Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-97