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Seats and Restraints 93
5. To tighten the belt, push downon the child restraint, pull the
shoulder portion of the belt to
tighten the lap portion of the
belt, and feed the shoulder belt
back into the retractor. When
installing a forward-facing child
restraint, it may be helpful to
use your knee to push down on
the child restraint as you
tighten the belt.
Try to pull the belt out of the
retractor to make sure the
retractor is locked. If the
retractor is not locked, repeat
Steps 4 and 5. 6. If the child restraint has a top
tether, follow the child restraint
manufacturer's instructions
regarding the use of the top
tether. See Lower Anchors and
Tethers for Children (LATCH
System) 084 for more
information.
7. Before placing a child in the child restraint, make sure it is
securely held in place. To
check, grasp the child restraint
at the safety belt path and
attempt to move it side to side
and back and forth. When the
child restraint is properly
installed, there should be no
more than 2.5 cm (1 in) of
movement.
To remove the child restraint,
unbuckle the vehicle safety belt and
let it return to the stowed position.
If the top tether is attached to a top
tether anchor, disconnect it. If the
head restraint was removed,
reinstall it before the seating
position is used. See “Head
Restraint Removal and Reinstallation”
underLower Anchors
and Tethers for Children (LATCH
System) 084 for additional
information on installing the head
restraint properly.
Securing Child Restraints
(Front Passenger Seat)
This vehicle has airbags. A rear
seat is a safer place to secure a
forward-facing child restraint. See
Where to Put the Restraint 083.
In addition, the vehicle has a
passenger sensing system which is
designed to turn off the front
outboard passenger frontal airbag
under certain conditions. See
Passenger Sensing System 071
and Passenger Airbag Status
Indicator 0112 for more information,
including important safety
information.
Never put a rear-facing child seat in
the front. This is because the risk to
the rear-facing child is so great if the
airbag deploys.
Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-U.S./Canada/Mexico-
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94 Seats and Restraints
{Warning
A child in a rear-facing child
restraint can be seriously injured
or killed if the front outboard
passenger frontal airbag inflates.
This is because the back of the
rear-facing child restraint would
be very close to the inflating
airbag. A child in a forward-facing
child restraint can be seriously
injured or killed if the front
outboard passenger frontal airbag
inflates and the passenger seat is
in a forward position.
Even if the passenger sensing
system has turned off the front
outboard passenger frontal
airbag, no system is fail-safe. No
one can guarantee that an airbag
will not deploy under some
unusual circumstance, even
though it is turned off.
Secure rear-facing child restraints
in a rear seat, even if the airbag
is off. If you secure a(Continued)
Warning (Continued)
forward-facing child restraint in
the front seat, always move the
front passenger seat as far back
as it will go. It is better to secure
the child restraint in a rear seat.
SeePassenger Sensing System
0 71 for additional information.
If the child restraint uses a top
tether, see Lower Anchors and
Tethers for Children (LATCH
System) 084 for top tether anchor
locations.
Do not secure a child seat in a
position without a top tether anchor
if a national or local law requires
that the top tether be anchored, or if
the instructions that come with the
child restraint say that the top strap
must be anchored.
In Canada, the law requires that
forward-facing child restraints have
a top tether, and that the tether be
attached. When using the lap-shoulder belt to
secure the child restraint in this
position, follow the instructions that
came with the child restraint and the
following instructions:
1. Move the seat as far back as it will go before securing the
forward-facing child restraint.
When the passenger sensing
system has turned off the front
outboard passenger frontal
airbag, the off indicator on the
passenger airbag status
indicator should light and stay
lit when the vehicle is started.
See Passenger Airbag Status
Indicator 0112.
2. Put the child restraint on the seat.
3. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder portions
of the vehicle's safety belt
through or around the restraint.
The child restraint instructions
will show you how.
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Seats and Restraints 95
4. Push the latch plate into thebuckle until it clicks.
Position the release button on
the buckle so that the safety
belt could be quickly unbuckled
if necessary.5. Pull the shoulder belt all theway out of the retractor to set
the lock. When the retractor
lock is set, the belt can be
tightened but not pulled out of
the retractor.6. To tighten the belt, push downon the child restraint, pull the
shoulder portion of the belt to
tighten the lap portion of the
belt, and feed the shoulder belt
back into the retractor. When
installing a forward-facing child
restraint, it may be helpful to
use your knee to push down on
the child restraint as you
tighten the belt.
Try to pull the belt out of the
retractor to make sure the
retractor is locked. If the
retractor is not locked, repeat
Steps 5 and 6.
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96 Seats and Restraints
7. Before placing a child in thechild restraint, make sure it is
securely held in place. To
check, grasp the child restraint
at the safety belt path and
attempt to move it side to side
and back and forth. When the
child restraint is properly
installed, there should be no
more than 2.5 cm (1 in) of
movement.
If the airbag is off, the off indicator in
the passenger airbag status
indicator will come on and stay on
when the vehicle is started.
If a child restraint has been installed
and the on indicator is lit, see “If the
On Indicator Is Lit for a Child
Restraint” underPassenger Sensing
System 071.
To remove the child restraint,
unbuckle the vehicle safety belt and
let it return to the stowed position.
Buick LaCrosse Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-U.S./Canada/Mexico-
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100 Instruments and Controls
Instruments and
Controls
Controls
Steering Wheel Adjustment . . . 101
Steering Wheel Controls . . . . . . 101
Heated Steering Wheel . . . . . . . 101
Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Windshield Wiper/Washer . . . . 102
Compass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Power Outlets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Warning Lights, Gauges, and
Indicators
Warning Lights, Gauges, andIndicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Instrument Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Speedometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Odometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Tachometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Fuel Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Engine Coolant Temperature Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Safety Belt Reminders . . . . . . . . 111
Airbag Readiness Light . . . . . . . 112
Passenger Airbag Status Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Charging System Light . . . . . . . 113 Malfunction Indicator Lamp
(Check Engine Light) . . . . . . . . 114
Brake System Warning Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Electric Parking Brake
Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Service Electric Parking Brake Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Antilock Brake System (ABS) Warning Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Lane Departure Warning (LDW) Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Vehicle Ahead Indicator . . . . . . . 117
Traction Off Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
StabiliTrak
®OFF Light . . . . . . . . 118
Traction Control System (TCS)/ StabiliTrak
®Light . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Engine Coolant Temperature Warning Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Tire Pressure Light . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Engine Oil Pressure Light . . . . . 119
Low Fuel Warning Light . . . . . . 120
Security Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
High-Beam On Light . . . . . . . . . . 120
Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL) Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Front Fog Lamp Light . . . . . . . . . 121
Lamps On Reminder . . . . . . . . . 121
Cruise Control Light . . . . . . . . . . 121
Door Ajar Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Information Displays
Power Flows (eAssist Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Energy Information (eAssist Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Driver Information
Center (DIC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Head-Up Display (HUD) . . . . . . 126
Vehicle Messages
Vehicle Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Battery Voltage and Charging Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Brake System Messages . . . . . 130
Compass Messages . . . . . . . . . . 131
Cruise Control Messages . . . . . 131
Door Ajar Messages . . . . . . . . . . 132
Engine Cooling System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Engine Oil Messages . . . . . . . . . 133
Engine Power Messages . . . . . 133
Fuel System Messages . . . . . . . 133
Key and Lock Messages . . . . . 133
Lamp Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Object Detection System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Ride Control System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Airbag System Messages . . . . 137
Security Messages . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Service Vehicle Messages . . . . 137
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Instruments and Controls 111
Engine Coolant
Temperature Gauge
Metric
English
This gauge shows the engine
coolant temperature.
If the gauge pointer moves toward
the shaded area, the engine is
too hot.
In eAssist vehicles, the engine
coolant warning light comes on
when the engine is too hot. See
Engine Coolant Temperature
Warning Light 0118 in this section.
This reading indicates the same
thing as the warning light. It means
that the engine coolant has
overheated. If the vehicle has been
operating under normal driving conditions, pull off the road, stop the
vehicle, and turn off the engine as
soon as possible. See
Engine
Overheating 0245 for more
information.
Safety Belt Reminders
Driver Safety Belt Reminder
Light
There is a driver safety belt
reminder light on the instrument
cluster.
When the vehicle is started, this
light flashes and a chime may come
on to remind the driver to fasten
their safety belt. Then the light stays
on solid until the belt is buckled.
This cycle may continue several
times if the driver remains or
becomes unbuckled while the
vehicle is moving.
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112 Instruments and Controls
If the driver safety belt is buckled,
neither the light nor the chime
comes on.
Passenger Safety Belt
Reminder Light
There is a passenger safety belt
reminder light near the passenger
airbag status indicator. See
Passenger Sensing System071.
When the vehicle is started, this
light flashes and a chime may come
on to remind passengers to fasten
their safety belt. Then the light stays
on solid until the belt is buckled.
This cycle continues several times if
the passenger remains or becomes
unbuckled while the vehicle is
moving.
If the passenger safety belt is
buckled, neither the chime nor the
light comes on. The front passenger safety belt
reminder light and chime may turn
on if an object is put on the seat
such as a briefcase, handbag,
grocery bag, laptop, or other
electronic device. To turn off the
reminder light and/or chime, remove
the object from the seat or buckle
the safety belt.
Airbag Readiness Light
This light shows if there is an
electrical problem with the airbag
system. The system check includes
the airbag sensor(s), passenger
sensing system, the pretensioners,
the airbag modules, the wiring, and
the crash sensing and diagnostic
module. For more information on the
airbag system, see
Airbag
System 065.
The airbag readiness light comes on
for several seconds when the
vehicle is started. If the light does
not come on then, have it fixed
immediately.
{Warning
If the airbag readiness light stays
on after the vehicle is started or
comes on while driving, it means
the airbag system might not be
working properly. The airbags in
the vehicle might not inflate in a
crash, or they could even inflate
without a crash. To help avoid
injury, have the vehicle serviced
right away.
Passenger Airbag Status
Indicator
The vehicle has a passenger
sensing system. See Passenger
Sensing System 071 for important
safety information. The overhead
console has a passenger airbag
status indicator.
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Driving and Operating 165
Refer to the infotainment manual for
more information on using that
system, including pairing and using
a cell phone
Defensive Driving
Defensive driving means“always
expect the unexpected.” The first
step in driving defensively is to wear
the safety belt. See Safety
Belts 059.
. Assume that other road users
(pedestrians, bicyclists, and
other drivers) are going to be
careless and make mistakes.
Anticipate what they might do
and be ready.
. Allow enough following distance
between you and the driver in
front of you.
. Focus on the task of driving.
Drunk Driving
Death and injury associated with
drinking and driving is a global
tragedy.
{Warning
Drinking and then driving is very
dangerous. Your reflexes,
perceptions, attentiveness, and
judgment can be affected by even
a small amount of alcohol. You
can have a serious —or even
fatal —collision if you drive after
drinking.
Do not drink and drive or ride with
a driver who has been drinking.
Ride home in a cab; or if you are
with a group, designate a driver
who will not drink.
Control of a Vehicle
Braking, steering, and accelerating
are important factors in helping to
control a vehicle while driving.
Braking
Braking action involves perception
time and reaction time. Deciding to
push the brake pedal is perception
time. Actually doing it is
reaction time. Average driver reaction time is
about three-quarters of a second. In
that time, a vehicle moving at
100 km/h (60 mph) travels 20 m
(66 ft), which could be a lot of
distance in an emergency.
Helpful braking tips to keep in mind
include:
.
Keep enough distance between
you and the vehicle in front
of you.
. Avoid needless heavy braking.
. Keep pace with traffic.
If the engine ever stops while the
vehicle is being driven, brake
normally but do not pump the
brakes. Doing so could make the
pedal harder to push down. If the
engine stops, there will 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.