2004 MERCEDES-BENZ CLK CABRIOLET ESP

34 Getting started
Driving
The seat belt extender for the driver and
front passenger makes iteasier for you to
put on the seat belt.
1 Seat belt extender
The seat belt extender extends when you
close the appropriate door and turn the
key to position 1or 2in the ig nition lock. The seat belt extender sli
des back again if
you:
! engage the belt tongue inthe seat belt
buc kle
! do not engage the belt tongue in the
seat belt buckle within 30 seconds
! open the respective door
! turn the key to position 0in the ignition
lock
! unlock or fold the backrest forwards
1Belt tongue
2 Release button
3 Buc kle
P91.40-2306-31 G
Risk of injury The seat belt extender must be
inits
retracted position whil edriving.Only then
can the seat belt fit your body correctly and
perform its protective function. P91.40-2307-31209en_d2.boo Seite
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39
Getting started
Driving
6 Select either first or reverse gear.
6 Slowly release the clutch pedal and
carefully depress the accelerator.
! Change gear in good time. Make sure that
the enginespe eddoes notreach thered area in
the rev cou nter. There is otherwise a danger of
engine dam age.
Do not allow the wheels tospin, ifpossible. You
could otherwise damage the dri vetrain. Automatic
transmission*
i You can only move the selector lever tothe
re quired position by depressing the brake pedal.
Only then isthe selector lever lock disabled.
6 Depress the brake pedal and keep it in
this posi tion.
The selector lever lock is released.
6 Release the parking brake.
6 Move the selector lever to position D
or R.
i Wait for the shi ftprocess to complete
before pulling away.
6 Release the brake pedal.
6 Carefully depress the accelerator
pe dal.
i After a cold start, the automatic transmi s-
sion will shift at a higher engine spe ed. This helps
th e catalytic converter toreach its operati ng
te mperature more quickly. Dipped-
beam headlamps
The light switch is located on the dash-
board between the steering wheel and the
driver's door.
Light switch
1 Lights off
2 Dipped-beam headlamps on G
Risk of accident Do not shift down unle
ss the current driving
sp eed is within the permiss ible range for the
gear to be selected.
Do not change down for additio nal engine
braking ona slippery road surface. The drive
wheels could then lose their grip and the
vehi cle could skid. Youc ould lose control of
the vehicle and cause an acc iden t. Switching on the headlamps
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41
Getting started
Driving
6 Press the combination switch in the
direction of arrow 1or2.
The cor responding turn signal indicator
lamp flashes in the instrument cluster.
The combination switch moves back to
its basic position automatically after
large steering wheel movements.
i Press the switch briefly to signal a minor
change in direction. The appropriate turn signal
flashes three times. The combination switch is located on the
left of the steering column.
Com
bination switch
1 Single wipe
2 To switch on the windscreen wipers
6 Make sure that the ignition is switched
on. Switching on the windscre
enwipers
6 Turn the combinatio nswitch to the cor-
re ct setting, depending on how heavy
the rain is.
0 Windscreen wipers off
I Intermittent wipe
II Normal wipe
III Rapid wipe
i Vehicles without a rain sensor*:
The winds cree nw iper s are swi tcheddown a
sp eed automatically when the vehicle is station-
ary. If intermitten twipe has been selecte d,the
wipe interval incre ases.
Ve hicles with arain sensor*:
Yo uc an use position Ias the universal position.
Th erain sensor automatically adjusts wiping fre-
quency depending onhow much rai nfalls on the
wiper sensor.
The rai nsensor is an advanced int elligent int er-
mitt ent function which shoul donlybe activated
wh en it is raining. Werecommend that you do
not acti vate the rai nsensor indry weather as dirt
or ooptical effects may cause inadv ertent wiper
sweeps. Windscreen wipers
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48 Safety
Occupant safety Do not se
cure any object s with a seat belt if
it is also being used by one of the vehi cle's
occupa nts.
Avoid wearing bulky clothing, e.g. a winter
coat.
Do not rout ethe seat belt strap over sharp-
edged or fragile objects, especially if these
ar e on orinyour cl othing, e.g. spectac les,
pencils or keys.
The belt strap could otherwise tear and you
or other vehicl eoccupa nts could be injured
as aresult.
Onl yone person should use each seat belt
at anyo ne time.
On no account should chil dren travel sitting
on the lap of anotheroccupa nt. It wou ldnot
be possible to restrain the children and they
and other vehicle occupan tscou ldbe seri-
ously injured in the event of abrupt braking
or fatally injured in th eevent of an accident. Persons less than 1.50 m
tall or children
un der twelve years of agecannot wear their
seat belts properly. The yth ere fore require
additio nal restraint systems installed on
suitable vehicle seats for protection in an
accident. Always observe the installation
instructions issued by the manufactu rer of
the child re straint systems. G
Risk of injury The seat belt onl
yprovides its intended
degree of protection if the seat bac krest is
positioned as close to the vertical as possi-
ble, allowing the occupant to sit upright.
Avoid seat positions that do not allow the
seat belt to be routed correctly. To do so,
position the backrest as close to th evertical
as possible. Never drive with the backrest
recli ned too far back. You could otherwise
be serio uslyor even fatally injured in the
event of an accident or abrupt bra king. G
Risk ofinjury The seat belt cannot perform its protective
function
correctly if the seat belt strap or
buckle are dirty or damaged. For this rea-
son, keep the seat belt strap and buckle
clean, otherwise the belt tongu eca nnot
engage correctly.
Chec kthe seat belts regularly that they:
! arenot damag ed
! are not routed over sharp edges
! are not trapped
The seat belt strap could oth erwi se tear in
an accident.
Yo u or ot hers could be seriously or fatally
injured.
Have seat belts replaced and their anchor-
ages checked if the belts have been dam-
age dors ubjected to a heavyloa din an
accid ent.
For safety reasons, Mercedes-Benz recom-
mends that you only use seat belts which
have been specially approved for your vehi-
cl e by Mercedes-Be nz.209en_d2.boo Seite
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53
Safety
Occupant safety Ai
rb ag syst em G
Risk ofinjury If the belt tensi
onersha ve bee ntriggered,
have them replaced ata qualified specialist
workshop which has th eneces sary special-
ist knowledge and tools to carry out the
work required. Mercedes -Benz recommends
that you use a Mercedes-Be nzService
Centre for this purpose.
In particular, work rele vant to safety or on
safe ty-re lated systems mustbe carried out
at a qualified spec ialist workshop.
Ob serve the safety regulations for th edis-
posal of belt tensioners. Any Mercedes-B enz
Service Centre can provide detail sof these
regulations. G
Risk of injury To reduce the risk of serious or fata
linjury in
an accident with a high rate of deceleration,
e.g. injuries caused by an airbaginflating
within milliseconds or in the ev ent of abrupt
br aking, please observe the following
inst ructions:
! Allve hicle occupants must select a seat
position in which it is possible to wear
the seat belt correctl ybut which is as far
back from the airba gas possible. The
position of the driver's seat must allow
the driver to drive th evehicle safely. The
driver's arms shou ldbe slightly bent
when holding the steering wheel. The
distance from th edriver's seat to the
pedals must be such that the dr iver can
fully depress the pedals.
! Vehicle occupants should wear their
seat belt correctly at all times and lean
back against the bac krest, which should
be positioned almost vertically. The
head restraint should support the back
of yo urhead at abo uteye level. !
Move the front- passenger seat as far to
the rear as possible, especially if a child
is secured in a restraint system installed
on this sea t.
! Never secure a rearward-facing child
restraint system on the front-pass enger
seat if the front-passenger front airbag
is not deactivate d.In the CLK-Class, the
fr ont-passen ger fro ntairbag is deacti-
vated if a child restraint system with
automatic child seat recognition is
secured to a front-passenger seat and
the AIRBAG OFF lamp is lit. If the auto-
matic child seat rec ognition is defective,
children must be secured in a child
restraint system ins talled on a suitable
re ar seat. If you are using aforward-f ac-
in g child seat on the fro nt-pa ssen ger
seat, the front-passenger seat must be
moved as far to the rear as possibl e. 209en_d2.boo Seite
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55
Safety
Occupant safety
Front airbags
The front airbags increase the protection
afforded to the driver and front passenger
against head and chest in juries. The
driver's front airbag and front-passenger
front airbag are triggered:
! inthe first stages of an accident with
high forces of vehicle deceleration or
acceleration in a longi tudinal direction
! ifthe system foresees that airbag
deployment can offer additional pro-
tection to that provided by the seat belt !
depending on the use of the seat belt
! independently of other airbags in the
vehicle
! rarely if the vehicle overturns, unless
high forces of vehicle deceleration in a
long itudinal direction are detected
The dri ver's front airbag is located inthe
steering wheel. The front-passenge rfront
airbag is fitted above the glove compart-
ment.
Front airbags
1 Driver's front airbag
2 Front-passenger front airbag G
Risk ofinjury Af
ter an airbag has bee ntriggered:
! airbag parts are hot. Do not touch them,
oth erwi se you could be burnt
! have the airbags replaced at a qualified
specialist workshop whic hhas the nec-
essary specialist knowledge and tools to
carry out the work required. Mercedes-
Ben zrecom mends that you use a
Mercedes -Benz Serv ice Centre for
this purpose. Inparticular, work rele-
vant to safety or on safety-relate dsys-
tems must be carried out at a qualified
specialist workshop G
Risk of injury A small
amount of finepowder is released as
an airbag inflates. Thi spowder does not
constitute a health hazard, nor does it imply
that fire has brok enout in the vehicle. This
po wder could cause short-term breathing
dif ficu lties for persons suffering from
as thma or oth errespiratory conditions. In
order to prev ent these breathing difficulties,
leave the vehicle immediately when you are
certain it is safe to do so or open the win-
do ws to allow fresh air to enter the ve hicle.
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68 Safety
Driving safety
systems
In this section, you will find information
about the following driving safety system s:
! ABS(A nti-lock B raking S ystem)
! BAS (B rake As sist)
! ESP (E lectronic S tability P rogram)
i In wintry conditions, use winter tyres (M+S
tyres), with snow chains if ne cessary. The maxi-
mu m effect of ABS, BAS, ESP and SBC can only
be ac hievedin this way. ABS regulates the brake
pressure insuch a
way that the wheels do not lock when you
brake. This allows you to continue steer-
ing.
ABS works from a speed of approxi mately
8 km /hupwards, regardless of road sur-
face conditions.
ABS works on slip pery road surfaces, even
when you only brake gent ly.
The - indicator lamp in the instrument
cluster ( =page 12 )light s up when you
turn the keyto position 2in the ignition
lock. It goes out when the engine isrun-
ning. This indicates that ABS is opera-
tional. Dr
iving safety systems G
Risk of accident The risk of an acci
dent increases especially if
you:
! drive too fast, particularly when cornering
and ona wet or slippery road surfa ce
! drive too close to th evehicle in front
The driving safety systems described in this
section are unable to reduce this risk or over-
ride the laws of physics.
For this reason, always adapt your driving
style to suit the current road and weather con-
ditions and maintain asuffici en tdistanc efrom
other road users and objectsonthe road. ABS
G
Risk of accident Do not depress the brake pedal several times
in
qu ick succession (pumping). Depress the
brake firmly and evenly .Pumping the brake
ped alreduces the braking effect. 209en_d2.boo Seite
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69
Safety
Driving safety systems Braking
If ABS cuts in while you are braking, you
will feel:
!
the vehicle vibrating
! the brake pedal pulsating
This will indicate to you that ABS has been
acti vated. Always adapt your driving style
to suit the prevai ling road and weather
conditions.
6 Continue to depress the brake pedal,
even when ABS has been activ ated. Brake Assist operates
inemergency brak-
ing situation s.If you depress the brake
pedal quickly, BAS boosts the braking
force automatically and thus shortens the
stopping distance.
6 Depress the brake pedal firm lyuntil the
emergency-braking situation is ove r.
ABS prevents the wheels from locking.
When you release the brake pedal, the
brakes work as norm al again. BAS is then
deactivated. The Electronic Stabilit
y Program monitors
the traction, i.e. the power transmission
between the tyres and the road, and the
stability of the vehicle.
ESP detects when a wheel is spinning or
when the vehicle has begun to skid. ESP
stabilises the vehicle by applying specific
braking to individual wheels and limiting
the engine power output. ESP assists you
in particular when pulling away on a wet or
slip pery road surface.
If ESP cuts in, the vwarning lamp
flashes in the speedometer.
The v ESP warning lamp in the instru-
ment cluster lights up when you turn the
key to po sition 2in the ignition lock. It
goes out when the engine is running. This
ind icates that ESP is operational. G
Risk of accident Always adapt your driving style to suit the
prevailin
groad and weather conditions and
maintain a suffi cient distance from other
road users and objects onthe road. BAS
G
Risk of accident If BAS malfunctions, the brake system is still
available with the full brake boosting effect.
In an emer
gency braking situation, however,
th e braking fo rce is not automatically
bo osted and may lengthen the stopping dis-
tance. ESP209en_d2.boo Seite
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