Black plate (3,1)Buick Encore Owner Manual - 2013 - crc - 1/8/13
Driving and Operating 9-3
A utility vehicle does not handle the
same as a vehicle with a lower
center of gravity, like a car, in similar
situations.
Safe driver behavior and
understanding of the environment
can help avoid a rollover crash in
any type of vehicle, including utility
vehicles.
Distracted Driving
Distraction comes in many forms
and can take your focus from the
task of driving. Exercise good
judgment and do not let other
activities divert your attention away
from the road. Many local
governments have enacted laws
regarding driver distraction. Become
familiar with the local laws in
your area.
To avoid distracted driving, always
keep your eyes on the road, hands
on the wheel, and mind on the drive.
.Do not use a phone in
demanding driving situations.
Use a hands-free method to
place or receive necessary
phone calls.
.Watch the road. Do not read,
take notes, or look up
information on phones or other
electronic devices.
.Designate a front seat
passenger to handle potential
distractions.
.Become familiar with vehicle
features before driving, such as
programming favorite radio
stations and adjusting climate
control and seat settings.
Program all trip information into
any navigation device prior to
driving.
.Wait until the vehicle is parked
to retrieve items that have fallen
to the floor.
.Stop or park the vehicle to tend
to children.
.Keep pets in an appropriate
carrier or restraint.
.Avoid stressful conversations
while driving, whether with a
passenger or on a cell phone.
{WARNING
Taking your eyes off the road too
long or too often could cause a
crash resulting in injury or death.
Focus your attention on driving.
Refer to the infotainment section for
more information on using that
system, including pairing and using
a cell phone.
If equipped, refer to the navigation
manual for information on that
system, including pairing and using
a cell phone.
Black plate (14,1)Buick Encore Owner Manual - 2013 - crc - 1/8/13
9-14 Driving and Operating
The GVWR includes the weight
of the vehicle, all occupants,
fuel, and cargo. Never exceed
the GVWR for the vehicle, or the
Gross Axle Weight Rating
(GAWR) for either the front or
rear axle.
And, if there is a heavy load, it
should be spread out. See
“Steps for Determining Correct
Load Limit”earlier in this
section.
{WARNING
Do not load the vehicle any
heavier than the Gross
Vehicle Weight Rating
(GVWR), or either the
maximum front or rear Gross
Axle Weight Rating (GAWR).
This can cause systems to
break and change the way the
vehicle handles. This could
(Continued)
WARNING (Continued)
cause loss of control and a
crash. Overloading can also
shorten the life of the vehicle.
If you put things inside the
vehicle —like suitcases, tools,
packages, or anything
else —they will go as fast as the
vehicle goes. If you have to stop
or turn quickly, or if there is a
crash, they will keep going.
{WARNING
Things inside the vehicle can
strike and injure people in a
sudden stop or turn, or in a
crash.
.Put things in the cargo
area of the vehicle. In the
cargo area, put them as
(Continued)
WARNING (Continued)
far forward as possible.
Try to spread the weight
evenly.
.Never stack heavier
things, like suitcases,
inside the vehicle so that
some of them are above
the tops of the seats.
.Do not leave an
unsecured child restraint
in the vehicle.
.Secure loose items in the
vehicle.
.Do not leave a seat folded
down unless needed.
Black plate (2,1)Buick Encore Owner Manual - 2013 - crc - 1/8/13
i-2 INDEX
B
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-19Jump Starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-61
Power Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Voltage and ChargingMessages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-26
Blade Replacement, Wiper . . . 10-21
Blind Spot Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-12
Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-16
Brake System Warning Light . . . . . . . . 5-16
Brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-17 Antilock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-26
Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-27
Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-27
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-26
Braking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4
Break-In, New Vehicle . . . . . . . . . 9-15 Bulb Replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-26
Halogen Bulbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-23
Headlamp Aiming . . . . . . . . . . . 10-23
Headlamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-23
Headlamps, Front Turn
Signal, and Parking
Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-24
License Plate Lamps . . . . . . . 10-26
Buying New Tires . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-50
C
Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
California Fuel Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 9-43
Perchlorate MaterialsRequirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
Camera, Rear Vision . . . . . . . . . . 9-38
Canadian Vehicle Owners . . . . . . . . iii
Capacities and
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2
Carbon Monoxide Engine Exhaust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-22
Liftgate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8
Winter Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-8 Cargo
Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3
Management System . . . . . . . . . . 4-3
Cautions, Danger, and Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
CD Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-11
Center Console Storage . . . . . . . . 4-3
Chains, Tire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-55
Charging System Light . . . . . . . . 5-13
Check Engine Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-14
Ignition
Transmission Lock . . . . . . . . 10-21
Child Restraints Infants and YoungChildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-37
Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children . . . . . . . . . 3-43
Older Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-35
Securing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-48, 3-51
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-40
Circuit Breakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-27
Cleaning Exterior Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-67
Interior Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-70
Black plate (6,1)Buick Encore Owner Manual - 2013 - crc - 1/8/13
i-6 INDEX
HeatedSteering Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
Heated Front Seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Heated Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-12
Heater Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-18
Heating and Air Conditioning . . . 8-1
High-Beam On Light . . . . . . . . . . . 5-21
Highway Hypnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7
Hill and Mountain Roads . . . . . . . . 9-7
Hill Start Assist (HSA) . . . . . . . . . 9-28
Hood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
How to Wear Safety Belts
Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15
I
Ignition Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-15
Ignition Transmission LockCheck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-21
Immobilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10 Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-21
Indicator
Vehicle Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-18
Infants and Young Children, Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-37 Infotainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
Infotainment System . . . . . . . . . . 13-20
Instrument Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9
Instrument Panel
Storage Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
J
Jump Starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-61
K
Keyless Entry Remote (RKE) System . . . . . . . . 2-3
Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
L
Labeling, Tire Sidewall . . . . . . . . 10-37
Lamps Courtesy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Daytime Running (DRL) . . . . . . . 6-2
Dome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Exterior Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Front Fog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4 Lamps (cont'd)
Headlamps, Front Turn
Signal, and Parking
Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-24
License Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-26
Malfunction Indicator . . . . . . . . . 5-14
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-28
On Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22
Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Lane Departure Warning . . . . . . . 9-40
Lane Departure Warning Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-18
Lap-Shoulder Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-16
LATCH System Replacing Parts after aCrash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-48
LATCH, Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children . . . . . . . . . . 3-43
Liftgate Carbon Monoxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8
Lighting Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Illumination Control . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Black plate (8,1)Buick Encore Owner Manual - 2013 - crc - 1/8/13
i-8 INDEX
Mirrors (cont'd)Manual Rearview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11
Tilt in Reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13
Monitor System, Tire Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-43
Multi-band Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-11
N
Navigation OnStar®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
Net, Convenience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4
New Vehicle Break-In . . . . . . . . . . 9-15
O
Object Detection System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-28
Odometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-10
Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-10
Off-Road Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5
Oil
Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-7
Engine Oil Life System . . . . . . . 10-9
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-27
Pressure Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-20 Older Children, Restraints . . . . . 3-35
Online Owner Center . . . . . . . . . . 13-6
OnStar
®
System, In Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-21
OnStar®Additional
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-5
OnStar
®Connections . . . . . . . . . . 14-3
OnStar®Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . 14-5
OnStar®Emergency . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
OnStar®Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
OnStar®Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-1
OnStar®Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
Operation, Infotainment System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-4
Ordering Service Publications . . . . . . . . 13-16
Outlets Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
Overheating, Engine . . . . . . . . . . 10-15
Overview, Infotainment System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
P
Park
Shifting Into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-19
Shifting Out of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-20
Parking Assist, Ultrasonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-36
Brake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-27
Brake and P (Park)Mechanism Check . . . . . . . . 10-21
Over Things That Burn . . . . . . . 9-22
Passenger Airbag Status
Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-12
Passenger Compartment Air Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-6
Passenger Sensing System . . . 3-29
Perchlorate Materials Requirements, California . . . . . 10-2
Personalization Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-31
Phone
Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-16
Power Door Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7
Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11
Outlets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
Protection, Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Black plate (10,1)Buick Encore Owner Manual - 2013 - crc - 1/8/13
i-10 INDEX
S
Safety Belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-14Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
Extender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-21
How to Wear Safety BeltsProperly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15
Lap-Shoulder Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-16
Reminders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11
Replacing after a Crash . . . . . . 3-22
Use During Pregnancy . . . . . . . . 3-21
Safety Defects Reporting
Canadian Government . . . . . . 13-18
General Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-18
U.S. Government . . . . . . . . . . . 13-17
Safety Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7
Safety System Check . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
Scheduling Appointments . . . . . 13-12
Seats Adjustment, Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3
Folding Seatback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9
Head Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
Heated Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Lumbar Adjustment, Front . . . . . 3-4
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6
Power Adjustment, Front . . . . . . 3-4 Seats (cont'd)
Rear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10
Reclining Seatbacks . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
Underseat Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2
Securing Child Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-48, 3-51
Security OnStar
®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
Vehicle Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
Service Accessories andModifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
Doing Your Own Work . . . . . . . . 10-3
Engine Soon Light . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-14
Maintenance Records . . . . . . .11-13
Maintenance, General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-1
Parts Identification Label . . . . . 12-1
Publications Ordering Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-16
Scheduling Appointments . . . 13-12
Vehicle Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-30
Servicing the Airbag . . . . . . . . . . . 3-33
Shift Lock Control Function Check, Automatic
Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-20 Shifting
Into Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-19
Out of Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-20
Signals, Turn and Lane-Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4
Spare Tire Compact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-61
Specifications and Capacities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2
Speedometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-10
StabiliTrak OFF Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-18
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-30
Start Assist, Hills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-28
Start Vehicle, Remote . . . . . . . . . . 2-5
Starter Switch Check . . . . . . . . . 10-20
Starting the Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-17
Steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5 Heated Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
Power, Warning Lights . . . . . . . . 5-17
Wheel Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Wheel Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Storage Areas Cargo Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3
Cargo Management System . . . 4-3
Center Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3