2011 CHEVROLET CAMARO brake

Black plate (34,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
5-34 Instruments and Controls
Vehicle Messages
Messages are displayed on the DIC
to notify the driver that the status of
the vehicle has changed and that
some action may be needed by
the driver to correct the condition.
Multiple messages may appear
one after another.
Some messages may not require
immediate action. For those you can
press SET to acknowledge that you
received the messages and to clear
them. Some messages cannot be
cleared because they are more
urgent. These messages require
action. You should take any
messages that appear on the
display seriously and remember
that clearing the messages will
only make the messages disappear,
not correct the problem. Possible
messages that can be displayed
and some information about them,
grouped by subject, are in the
following information.
Battery Voltage and
Charging Messages
BATTERY SAVER ACTIVE
This message displays when
the vehicle has detected that the
battery voltage is dropping beyond
a reasonable point. The battery
saver system starts reducing certain
features of the vehicle that you may
be able to notice. At the point that
features are disabled, this message
is displayed. It means that the
vehicle is trying to save the charge
in the battery. Turn off unnecessary
accessories to allow the battery to
recharge.
LOW BATTERY
This message is displayed when the
battery voltage is low. SeeBattery
on page 10‑31 for more information.
SERVICE BATTERY
CHARGING SYSTEM
This message is displayed
when there is a fault in the battery
charging system. Take the vehicle
to your dealer for service.
Brake System Messages
BRAKE FLUID LOW
This message is displayed when the
brake fluid level is low; see Brake
Fluid on page 10‑30.
RELEASE PARKING BRAKE
This message is displayed as a
reminder that the parking brake is
on. Release it before you attempt to
drive.

Black plate (35,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
Instruments and Controls 5-35
Compass Messages
CAL
This message is displayed when the
compass needs to be calibrated.
SeeCompass on page 5‑4.
– – –
Three dashes will be displayed if the
compass needs service. See your
dealer for service.
Cruise Control Messages
APPLY BRAKE BEFORE
CRUISE
If this message displays when
attempting to activate cruise control,
apply the brake pedal and try again.
CRUISE SET TO XXX
This message displays when the
cruise control is set and shows the
speed it was set to. See Cruise
Control on page 9‑43 for more
information.
Door Ajar Messages
DRIVER DOOR OPEN
This message will display when the
driver door is open. Close the door
completely.
HOOD OPEN
This message will display when the
hood is open. Close the hood
completely.
PASSENGER DOOR OPEN
This message will display when the
passenger door is open. Close the
door completely.
TRUNK OPEN
This message will display when
the trunk is open. Close the trunk
completely.
Engine Cooling System
Messages
A/C OFF DUE TO HIGH
ENGINE TEMP
This message displays when
the engine coolant becomes
hotter than the normal operating
temperature. To avoid added
strain on a hot engine, the air
conditioning compressor
automatically turns off. When
the coolant temperature returns
to normal, the air conditioning
compressor turns back on. You
can continue to drive the vehicle.
If this message continues to appear,
have the system repaired by your
dealer as soon as possible to avoid
damage to the engine.
COOLANT LEVEL LOW ADD
COOLANT
This message will display if the
coolant is low. See Engine Coolant
on page 10‑20.

Black plate (1,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
Driving and Operating 9-1
Driving and
Operating
Driving Information
Defensive Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2
Drunk Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2
Control of a Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3
Braking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4
Steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5
Off-Road Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6
Loss of Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6
Competitive Driving . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7
Driving on Wet Roads . . . . . . . . . 9-8
Highway Hypnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-9
Hill and Mountain Roads . . . . . . 9-9
Winter Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10
If the Vehicle is Stuck . . . . . . . . 9-12
Vehicle Load Limits . . . . . . . . . . 9-13
Starting and Operating
New Vehicle Break-In . . . . . . . . 9-18
Ignition Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-19
Starting the Engine . . . . . . . . . . 9-21
Engine Heater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-23
Retained AccessoryPower (RAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-24
Shifting Into Park (Automatic Transmission) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-24
Shifting Out of Park . . . . . . . . . . 9-25
Parking (Manual Transmission) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-27
Parking Over Things That Burn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-28
Active Fuel Management
®. . . 9-28
Engine Exhaust
Engine Exhaust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-28
Running the Vehicle While Parked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-29
Automatic Transmission
Automatic Transmission . . . . . 9-30
Manual Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-32
Manual Transmission
Manual Transmission . . . . . . . . 9-34
Brakes
Antilock BrakeSystem (ABS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-36
Parking Brake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-37
Brake Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-38
Ride Control Systems
Traction Control System (TCS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-38
StabiliTrak
®System . . . . . . . . . 9-39
Competitive Driving Mode . . . 9-41
Limited-Slip Rear Axle . . . . . . . 9-43
Cruise Control
Cruise Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-43
Object Detection Systems
Ultrasonic Parking Assist . . . . 9-46

Black plate (3,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
Driving and Operating 9-3
Death and injury associated with
drinking and driving is a global
tragedy.
Alcohol affects four things that
anyone needs to drive a vehicle:
judgment, muscular coordination,
vision, and attentiveness.
Police records show that
almost 40 percent 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
17,000 annual motor vehicle-related
deaths have been associated with
the use of alcohol, with about
250,000 people injured.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.
Medical research shows that
alcohol in a person's system
can make crash injuries worse,
especially injuries to the brain,
spinal cord, or heart. This means
that when anyone who has been
drinking
—driver or passenger —is
in a crash, that person's chance of
being killed or permanently disabled
is higher than if the person had not
been drinking.Control of a Vehicle
The following three systems
help to control the vehicle while
driving —brakes, steering, and
accelerator. At times, as when
driving on snow or ice, it is easy to
ask more of those control systems
than the tires and road can provide.
Meaning, you can lose control of the
vehicle. See StabiliTrak
®System on
page 9‑39.
Adding non‐dealer accessories
can affect vehicle performance.
See Accessories and Modifications
on page 10‑3.

Black plate (4,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
9-4 Driving and Operating
Braking
SeeBrake System Warning Light on
page 5‑20.
Braking action involves perception
time and reaction time. Deciding
to push the brake pedal is
perception time. Actually doing
it 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 100 km/h
(60 mph) travels 20 m (66 ft).
That could be a lot of distance
in an emergency, so keeping
enough space between the
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.
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. The brakes
might not have time to cool between
hard stops. The brakes will wear
out much faster with a lot of
heavy braking. Keeping pace with
the traffic and allowing realistic
following distances eliminates a lot
of unnecessary braking. That means
better braking and longer brake life. If the engine ever stops while
the vehicle is being driven, brake
normally but do not pump the
brakes. If the brakes are pumped,
the pedal could get harder to push
down. If the engine stops, there will
still be some power brake assist but
it will be used when the brake is
applied. Once the power assist is
used up, it can take longer to stop
and the brake pedal will be harder
to push.
Adding non‐dealer accessories
can affect vehicle performance.
See
Accessories and Modifications
on page 10‑3.

Black plate (5,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
Driving and Operating 9-5
Steering
Power Steering
If power steering assist is lost
because the engine stops or the
power steering system is not
functioning, the vehicle can be
steered but it will take more effort.
Steering Tips
It is important to take curves at a
reasonable speed.
Traction in a curve depends on
the condition of the tires and the
road surface, the angle at which the
curve is banked, and vehicle speed.
While in a curve, speed is the one
factor that can be controlled.
If there is a need to reduce speed,
do it before entering the curve, while
the front wheels are straight.
Try to adjust the speed so you can
drive through the curve. Maintain a
reasonable, steady speed. Wait to
accelerate until out of the curve,
and then accelerate gently into the
straightaway.
Steering in Emergencies
There are times when steering
can be more effective than braking.
For example, you come over a hill
and find 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. These problems
can be avoided by braking—if you
can stop in time. But sometimes you
cannot stop in time because there
is no room. That is the time for
evasive action —steering around
the problem.
The vehicle can perform very
well in emergencies like these.
First apply the brakes. See Braking
on page 9‑4. It is better to remove
as much speed as possible from
a 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 holding the steering wheel at
the recommended 9 and 3 o'clock
positions, it can be turned 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.

Black plate (6,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
9-6 Driving and Operating
Off-Road Recovery
The vehicle's right wheels can drop
off the edge of a road onto the
shoulder while 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 the vehicle straddles
the edge of the pavement. Turn
the steering wheel 8 to 13 cm
(3 to 5 in), about one-eighth turn,
until the right front tire contacts
the pavement edge. Then turn the
steering wheel to go straight down
the roadway.
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 the vehicle's three control
systems. In the braking skid,
the 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.
If the vehicle starts to slide, ease
your foot off the accelerator pedal
and quickly steer the way you
want the vehicle to go. If you start
steering quickly enough, the vehicle
may straighten out. Always be ready
for a second skid if it occurs.

Black plate (7,1)Chevrolet Camaro Owner Manual - 2011
Driving and Operating 9-7
Of 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.Competitive Driving
Competitive driving may affect the
vehicle warranty. See the warranty
book before using the vehicle for
racing or other competitive driving.
The new vehicle break‐in must be
performed before the vehicle is
used for competitive driving. See
New Vehicle Break-In on page 9‑18.
Notice: If you use your vehicle
for competitive driving, the
engine may use more oil than it
would with normal use. Low oil
levels can damage the engine.
Be sure to check the oil level
often during competitive driving
and keep the level at or near the
upper mark that shows the proper
operating range on the engine oil
dipstick. For information on how
to add oil, see Engine Oil on
page 10‑10.
For competitive driving, it is
recommended that the brake fluid
be replaced with a high performance
brake fluid that has a dry boiling
point greater than 279°C (534°F). After conversion to the high
performance brake fluid,
follow the brake fluid service
recommendations outlined by the
fluid manufacturer. Do not use
silicone or DOT‐5 brake fluids.
If the vehicle is used for racing,
competitive driving, sustained high
speed , or events that generate
excessive wheel slip, the rear axle
fluid temperatures will be higher
than would occur in normal driving.
We recommend that the rear axle
fluid be drained and refilled with
new fluid after every six hours
of racing or competitive driving.
See
Recommended Fluids and
Lubricants on page 11‑7 for what
fluid to use.
Regularly inspect the driveshaft/
propshaft couplings and halfshaft
boots for cracking or grease
leakage. It is not recommended that
the vehicle be used for ongoing race
track/competitive driving.