
Black plate (43,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
Vehicle Care 10-43
Instrument Panel Fuse Block
The vehicle may not be equipped
with all of the fuses, relays, and
features shown. Fuses Usage
1 Steering Wheel
Controls Backlight
2 Body Control
Module 7
3 Body Control
Module 5
4 Radio
5 OnStar
6 Power Outlet 1
7 Power Outlet 2
8 Body Control
Module 1
9 Body Control
Module 4
10 Body Control
Module 8
(J‐Case Fuse) Fuses Usage
11 Front Heater
Ventilation Air
Conditioning/Blower
(J‐Case Fuse)
12 Passenger Seat
(Circuit Breaker)
13 Driver Seat (Circuit
Breaker)
14 Diagnostic Link
Connector
15 Airbag
16 Trunk
17 Heater Ventilation
Air Conditioning
Controller
18 Pre‐Fuse for Fuses
4 and 5

Black plate (65,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
Vehicle Care 10-65
Different Size Tires and
Wheels
If wheels or tires are installed that
are a different size than the original
equipment wheels and tires, vehicle
performance, including its braking,
ride and handling characteristics,
stability, and resistance to rollover
may be affected. If the vehicle has
electronic systems such as antilock
brakes, rollover airbags, traction
control, and electronic stability
control, the performance of these
systems can also be affected.
{WARNING
If different sized wheels are used,
there may not be an acceptable
level of performance and safety if
tires not recommended for those
wheels are selected. This
increases the chance of a crash
and serious injury. Only use GM
specific wheel and tire systems
developed for the vehicle, and
have them properly installed by a
GM certified technician.
See Buying New Tires on
page 10‑63 andAccessories and
Modifications on page 10‑3 for
additional information.
Uniform Tire Quality
Grading
Quality grades can be found
where applicable on the tire
sidewall between tread shoulder
and maximum section width. For
example:
Treadwear 200 Traction AA
Temperature A
The following information relates
to the system developed by the
United States National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA), which grades tires by
treadwear, traction, and
temperature performance. This
applies only to vehicles sold in
the United States. The grades
are molded on the sidewalls of
most passenger car tires. The
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
(UTQG) system does not apply
to deep tread, winter-type snow
tires, space-saver, or temporary

Black plate (17,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
Customer Information 13-17
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 Assistance Program (U.S.
and Canada) on page 13‑7or
Roadside Assistance Program
(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 3‑27.
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. Remember,
if the vehicle is leased, you may be
obligated to have the vehicle
repaired with Genuine GM parts,
even if your insurance coverage
does not pay the full cost.

Black plate (20,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
13-20 Customer Information
Reporting Safety Defects
to General Motors
In addition to notifying NHTSA
(or Transport Canada) in a situation
like this, please notify General
Motors.
Call 1-800-521-7300, or write:
Buick Customer Assistance Center
P.O. Box 33136
Detroit, MI 48232-5136
In Canada, call 1-800-263-3777
(English) or 1-800-263-7854
(French), or write:
General Motors of Canada Limited
Customer Care Centre, Mail Code:
CA1-163-005
1908 Colonel Sam Drive
Oshawa, Ontario L1H 8P7
Vehicle Data
Recording and
Privacy
This GM vehicle has a number of
sophisticated computers that record
information about the vehicle’s
performance and how it is driven.
For example, the vehicle uses
computer modules to monitor and
control engine and transmission
performance, to monitor the
conditions for airbag deployment
and deploy airbags in a crash, and,
if so equipped, to provide antilock
braking to help the driver control the
vehicle. These modules may store
data to help your dealer technician
service the vehicle. Some modules
may also store data about how you
operate the vehicle, such as rate of
fuel consumption or average speed.
These modules may also retain the
owner’s personal preferences, such
as radio presets, seat positions, and
temperature settings.
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.

Black plate (1,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
INDEX i-1
A
Accessories andModifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
Accessory Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-27
Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
Add-On Electrical
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-63
Additional Information, OnStar
®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-5
Adjustments
Lumbar, Front Seats . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
Air Cleaner/Filter, Engine . . . . . 10-13
Air Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
Air Filter, Passenger Compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11
Air Intake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11
Air Vents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-10
Airbag System Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-35
How Does an Airbag
Restrain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-27 Airbag System (cont'd)
Passenger Sensing
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-29
What Makes an Airbag
Inflate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-26
What Will You See after an Airbag Inflates? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-27
When Should an Airbag Inflate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-25
Where Are the Airbags? . . . . . . 3-24
Airbags Adding Equipment to theVehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-34
Passenger Status Indicator . . . 5-16
Readiness Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16
Servicing Airbag-Equipped
Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-33
System Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
Alarm System Anti-theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14
All-Wheel Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-34
AM-FM Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-18, 7-21 Antenna
Satellite Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-27
Anti-theft Alarm System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14
Alarm System Messages . . . . . 5-41
Antilock Brake System (ABS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-35
Warning Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-21
Appearance Care Exterior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-102
Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-105
Assistance Program, Roadside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7, 13-10
Audio Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-28 CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-28
CD/DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-30
MP3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-33
Audio System Backglass Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . 7-27
Radio Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-26
Theft-Deterrent Feature . . . . . . . . 7-2

Black plate (7,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
INDEX i-7
J
Jump Starting . . . . . . . . . .10-94, 10-95
K
Key and Lock Messages . . . . . . . 5-39
Keyless EntryRemote (RKE) System . . . . . . . . 2-4
Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
L
Labeling, Tire Sidewall . . . . . . . . 10-48
Lamps Daytime Running (DRL) . . . . . . . 6-2
Dome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Exterior Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Exterior Lamps OffReminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Headlamps, Front Turn Signal, and Parking
Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-33 Lamps (cont'd)
License Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-36
Malfunction Indicator . . . . . . . . . 5-17
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-39
On Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-26
Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Sun Visor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Lap-Shoulder Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15
LATCH System Replacing Parts after aCrash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-52
LATCH, Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children . . . . . . . . . . 3-44
Lighting
Adaptive Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
Illumination Control . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Lights Airbag Readiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16
Antilock Brake System(ABS) Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-21
Brake System Warning . . . . . . . 5-20 Lights (cont'd)
Charging System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-17
Cruise Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-27
Door Ajar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-27
Electric Parking Brake . . . . . . . . 5-21
Engine Coolant
Temperature Warning . . . . . . . 5-24
Engine Oil Pressure . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
Flash-to-Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Front Fog Lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-26
High-Beam On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-26
High/Low Beam Changer . . . . . . 6-2
Low Fuel Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
Safety Belt Reminders . . . . . . . . 5-15
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-26
StabiliTrak
®OFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22
Tire Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-24
Traction Control System (TCS)/StabiliTrak
®. . . . . . . . . . 5-23
Traction Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22
Limited-Slip Differential . . . . . . . . 9-41

Black plate (9,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
INDEX i-9
O
Object Detection SystemMessages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-39
Object Detection, Side Blind Zone Alert (SBZA) . . . . . . . . . . . 9-46
Odometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-12
Off-Road Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6
Oil Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-9
Engine Oil Life System . . . . . 10-12
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-38
Pressure Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-25
Older Children, Restraints . . . . . 3-36
Online Owner Center . . . . . . . . . . 13-6
OnStar
®
Additional Information . . . . . . . . 14-5
Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-4
Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-5
Emergency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2 OnStar
®(cont'd)
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-1
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
System, In Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-28
Operation, Infotainment System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-13
Ordering Service Publications . . . . . . . . 13-18
Outlets
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7
Overheated Engine Protection
Operating Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-21
Overheating, Engine . . . . . . . . . . 10-19
Overview,
Infotainment
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3, 7-5, 7-7
Overview, OnStar
®. . . . . . . . . . . . 14-1
P
Park
Shifting Into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-27
Shifting Out of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-29
Tilt Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-18 Parking
Assist, Ultrasonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-44
Brake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-36
Brake and P (Park)
Mechanism Check . . . . . . . . 10-28
Over Things That Burn . . . . . . . 9-29
Passenger Airbag Status
Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16
Passenger Compartment Air Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11
Passenger Sensing System . . . 3-29
Perchlorate Materials
Requirements, California . . . . . 10-3
Personalization Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-43
Phone
Bluetooth . . . . . . . . 7-57, 7-59, 7-63, 7-69
Power
Door Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-12
Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17
Outlets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7
Protection, Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8
Retained Accessory (RAP) . . . 9-27

Black plate (10,1)Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual - 2012
i-10 INDEX
Power (cont'd)Seat Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
Steering Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-21
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20
Pregnancy, Using Safety Belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-20
Privacy Radio FrequencyIdentification (RFID) . . . . . . . 13-22
Program Courtesy Transportation . . . . 13-14
Proposition 65 Warning, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
R
Radio FrequencyIdentification (RFID) . . . . . . . . 13-22
Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-22
Radios AM-FM Radio . . . . . . . . . . . 7-18, 7-21
CD/DVD Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-30
Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-26
Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-24 Reading Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Rear Seat Entertainment
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-47
Rear Seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-11
Rear Vision Camera (RVC) . . . . 9-49
Rearview Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-18 Automatic Dimming . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19
Reclining Seatbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6
Recommended Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-53
Recommended Fluids and
Lubricants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-12
Records Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11-15
Recreational Vehicle Towing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-99
Reimbursement Program, GM Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7
Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3, 2-4
Remote Vehicle Start . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
Replacement Bulbs . . . . . . . . . . . 10-36 Replacement Parts
Airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-35
Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11-14
Replacing Airbag System . . . . . . 3-35
Replacing LATCH System Parts after a Crash . . . . . . . . . . . 3-52
Replacing Safety Belt
System Parts after a Crash . . . 3-21
Reporting Safety Defects Canadian Government . . . . . . 13-19
General Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-20
U.S. Government . . . . . . . . . . . 13-19
Restraints Where to Put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-43
Retained Accessory Power (RAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-27
Ride Control Systems Enhanced TractionSystem (ETS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-41
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-40
Selective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-41