2006 MERCEDES-BENZ CL COUPE Owners Manual

28 Safety
Oc
cupant safety i
Inmany cou ntries there are law sconcerning
the use of seat belts and child res train tsys tems.
Th eSR S(S upplemental R estrain
t S yste
m)
co nsists of:
! Warning lamp =
! Belttens ioners
! Beltfor ce limi ters
! Airb ag syst emwith:
! Airbag contro lun it
! Airbags Warn
ing la mp =
Th eS RS perform sa self -test atregul arin-
ter vals when the ignition isswi tche don
an dt he engine isrunning. Mal funct ions
ca nthere fore be de tected ingood tim e.
The = warning lam pinth einst ru ment
clus ter (
= page 12) lig hts up when you
sw itch on the ignition and go esout a few
se co nds after the eng ine is sta rted. Pe
rsons unde r1.50 mtall orunde rtwelve
years of ageca nnot wear the seat belts
prope rly. Th ey therefo rereq uire ad ditional
su itabl erestr aint syst emsfitt ed on appro-
pr iate seatsfo rprotect ionin an accident. Al-
wa ys follow the ma nufact ur er’s installation
in st ru ctions when fitting a childs eat. G
Risk of inj ury A
seat belt onl yof fer s its intend eddegree
of protect ion if the backr estis po sitione das
cl ose to the vertic al aspossi ble and the
occ upantiss itting upr ight .Av oid sea tpos i-
ti ons that do not allow theseat beltto be
ro uted correctl y.Po sition theb ackres t as
close tothe vertical as possible .Don otdrive
with the backrest recline dto ofa rba ck.O th-
er wi se, yo ucouldbe seriously or even fatall y
in jur ed intheev ent ofan accident orsudden
br ak ing. G
Risk of inju ry Th
es eatbe ltca nn otfunc tion correc tly if the
bel torbuckle isdirty or damaged. Keep the
be lt an d bu ckle clean, othe rwise the belt
to ng ue ca nnot engage correctly.
Re gularly ch eckth ese at belts to make sure
th at they:
! are no tdamag ed
! aren otrouted over sharp edges
! arenot trap ped
Otherwise, the bel tco uld tear inthe ev entof
an accident. You or ot herscould be serious-
ly or fatall yin ju re d.
Ha ve se atbelts wh ichh aveb eend amag ed
or subject edtoheav ylo ad sin an accident
re place dan dhave theiranch orag es
ch ec ked.
Me rced es-Ben z recom mendsth at, for saf ety
re as ons ,you only use seat belts which have
bee nspeci allyapproved foryour vehicle by
Me rced es-Ben z. SRS
(Sup ple me ntal Restrai nt
Sy stem) 216_R
E_2006-12a.book Seit e28 Montag ,2. Oktober 2006 12:06 12

29
Safety
Oc cupa nt safety
Trig gering be lttensioners, belt force limiter
sand airbags
In theeve ntofacol lisi on , the sens or in the
ai rbag control unit evaluate simport ant
ph ysical data su chasduration, direction
an d rate ofvehicle de celera tion or acce ler-
at ion. Based on th eeva luat ion of thi sdata
an d dep ending on the veh icle ’s rate of lon-
gitudin aldeceleratio nin a collisio n,at the
fi rst le vel, th eairbag contro l un itpre -emp-
ti ve ly trigger sthe belt tensioners.
Th efront airb agsa re onl ythen de ploy ed if
there isahi gher deg reeof ve hicle de celer-
at ion in along itu dina ld ire ction.
Si nce yo urvehi cle is fitted with adaptive
du al-stage front airb ag s, the front airbags
ar efilled with eno ugh gas to red uce the
risk of injuries at th efirst deploym ent
thre shold. Thef ront airb agsare on lyfully
inflated ifaseco ndthresho ldisreac hed
with inafe w mi lliseconds due to the con-
trol unit having detected furth erdec eler a-
tion. i
Thefront airba gonth e fro nt-passeng erside
is only triggered if thefron t-passeng er seat oc-
cu panc yrec ognition sys tem identifies thatth e
seat is oc cupied.
The front belt tensioners can only be triggered if
th e belt tong ue isco rrec tly engaged in the seat
belt buc kle.
Act ivat ionof belt tensi oners and airbags
In the first stag es of acollision, th eairb ag
co ntro lunit evalua tesph ysical da ta,su ch
as duration and dire ction of ve hicle de cel-
er ation or accel eration in ord erto deter-
mi ne wh etherit is necessary to trigg erthe
belt te nsione rs or deploy the airb ag s.
Th ebe lttens ione ra nd airb agdepl oyment
thre sholds areva riab leand are adap tedto
the degre eof dece leration of the ve hicle.
This proc ess ispre-empt ive in nature as
the airbag must be deployed during – and
not after –the col lisi on. G
Risk of inju ry Am
alfun ction has occu rred if the=
warn ing lamp:
! does notlight up when yo ustart theig-
nit ion
! does not go out a few se co nd sa fter the
en gine has started
! ligh ts up again
Som esyst em sco uld be triggered uninten-
ti ona lly or might notbetrigge redat all in the
ev ent of an accide nt with high decelerati on.
Ha ve there straint system s ch ecked andre-
pa ired immedi ately ataqu alifie d spe cial ist
workshop which hasth ene cessary spe cial-
ist knowl edge andtool sto carry out the
work required. Me rcede s-Be nz reco mm ends
that yo u useaMe rced es-Benz Service Ce n-
tr e for thispurpos e. In partic ular, work rele-
va nt to safety or on saf ety-re late dsyste ms
mu st be carrie dou t at aqua lifi ed speci alist
workshop. 216_R
E_2006-12a.book Seit e29 Montag ,2. Oktober 2006 12:06 12

30 Safety
Oc
cupant safety i
Airbags are not deployed in all types of acci-
dent .They are control led by comp lex sensor
te ch nology and evaluat ionlogic .This process is
pre-emptive in nat ureas airbag deployment
mus tta ke place durin gth e impact and must be
adapt edtoprovide calcula ted, additional protec-
ti on for theve hicle occupant s.Not all airbags are
deplo yed in an accident.
The different airbag systems work independent ly
of eac hother . However, the deplo ymentof
eac hindiv idual system depe ndso nth et ype of
ac cident det ermi ned bytheco ntrol system in
th ef irst stage soft hecollision (h ead-on colli-
sion, side impact and overt urn) and the ext ent
of thea ccident (in partic ular, vehicl e’s rat eof
dec eleration or ac celeration).
The vehicle decel eration or accele ration
an d th edire ction of th efo rce are basica lly
de ter mine dby :
! the distr ibut ion of forces during th ecol-
li si on
! the collisio nan gle
! the deform ation ch arac teristi csof the
vehi cle
! the cha racter istics of the obje ctwith
which the vehicle has col lided, e.g. the
othe rvehicle Fa
ctors wh ich can onl ybe seen andmeas-
ured after th eco llisio nha s taken plac edo
not pl ay adecisive role in the depl oyme nt
of an airbag, nor do they provide an ind ica-
tion of it.
Th eve hiclem aybe consider abl yde formed
without an airbag being deployed, if, forex-
am ple, onl yea sily def orma ble parts, such
as the bonnet or fron twing, have be enhit
an dth ene cessary de gree ofdeceleration
ha sno tb eenr eached .It is also possible
that airbags maybe deployed eve nthough
th eve hicle is onlyslig htly deform ed,if, for
ex amp le,ve ry rigid veh icle parts such as
the lo ngitudin al memb ersa re af fectedin
an accident and th edeg reeof de celeration
is sufficie nt. Be
ltten sione rsand be lt force limiters
Th efront seat belts and theseat belts in
the rear ar e equipped with belt tensioner s.
! Donot engage th ese at belttongue onthe
front passe nger seat if these at is not occupied.
Th ebel tten sioners could oth erwi se be act ivated
in an accident.
Th eload exerted bythe seat bel tis re-
du ced if th e seatbe lt is also equipped with
a belt fo rcelimi ter. Th
eau tom atic com fort-f itfeat ure reduc es
the retra ction force of thefront se atbelts.
Th isresu lts in theseat beltbe ing mo re
co mf ortabl e.
Be lt tensi oners tight enthe se atbelts inan
ac cide nt, pulli ngthem cl oseagains t the
body.
i Beltte nsioners do not correc tan inc orrect
seat posi tion orinco rrec tly wor nseat belts.
Be lttensioners do not pull occupants back to-
wards theb ackrest.
Th e belt fo rce limi ters arefine-t uned to
th ef ront airbags ,which take ove rfro m the
seat beltapart oftheres trai ning forces,
thus spreadi ngthe fo rces exerted by them
on the occupant ove ra gr ea tera rea. 216_R
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31
Safety
Oc cupa nt safety
Wh en the igni tion issw itche don, the belt
tensi oners ar eactivated:
! onlyw henth erestr aint syste msare op-
er ationa l (the = warninglamp li ghts
up after the ignition isswitc hedo nan d
go es out onc eth een gine isrunning)
( = page 28)
! foreach seat beltwh en thebe ltto ng ue
is engage din the bu ckle
! and triggered in the event ofahea d-on
or rear-end collisio nif the vehicl e de-
ce ler ates oraccelerates rapidly in a
lo ng itudi naldi rectio ndurin gthe initial
st ag es ofthe collision
! and triggered incerta in situations if the
ve hicl eovertur ns, if additiona lprot ec-
tion can be provi ded
! and triggered in a serious head-o nco l-
lisi on, i.e. if the vehicle de celerates or
ac celerates extre mely qui cklyin alon-
gi tudinal direction atthe st art of anim-
pa ct
Wh en the belt tensi onersa re tr igger ed,
yo uwi ll hear a bang,w hich isnot harm ful
to you rhearing ,an dasm all amount of
po wder may al sobe released. The =
war ning lamp com eson. I Airbag sy
stem G
Risk ofinju ry Ha
ve belt tens ioner swhic h hav ebeen trig-
ge redre plac ed ataq ualifi ed speci alist
workshop whichha s th ene cessary spe cial-
ist knowl edge and tools tocarry ou tthe
work required. Mercede s-Be nz rec ommends
that youuse a Mercede s-Be nz Servic eCen-
tr e fo r this purpose.
In par ticu lar, work relevant tosafety or on
saf ety-rela tedsyste ms mu stbe carried out
at a qualifie dsp ecialis tworks ho p.
Com ply with saf ety regu lations when dis-
posing of belt tens ioners.
An yMe rced es-Benz Servic eCe ntre canpr o-
vi de de tailsofthes eregulati ons. G
Risk of inj ury To
reduce the risk of serious or fatal injuries
in the event ofan ac cide nt with a high rate
of deceleration, e.g. injuries cau sedby an
ai rb ag inflat ing within millisec ondsor su d-
den br aking, please observe th e fol lowi ng
poi nts:
! Allveh icle occ upantsmu st se lect a seat
po sition that allow sth eseat belt to be
worn correctl yan dthat is as far away
fr om the airb agaspossi ble. The driver ’s
seat position must allow the ve hicleto
be dr iven safel y.Th edr iver’s arms must
be sligh tly be nt wh en holding th estee r-
in g wheel. The driver mustma intain a
di st an ce from the peda ls that allo ws
hi m/ her to depress them fu lly.
! Allve hicl eoc cupants should alw ays
wear theirsea tbe ltcor rectly an d posi-
tion their backrest as close to theve rti-
cal aspossible .Th ehead restrain t
shou ldsuppo rt th eba ck of yo urhead at
abou tey e level. ==216_R
E_2006-12a.book Seit e31 Montag ,2. Oktober 2006 12:06 12

32 Safety
Oc
cupant safety
Your vehicl e is equip pedwi th the fo llowing
airbags:
! Driver’s front airb ag , located in the
steering wheel
! Front-pa ssenger front airb agabov ethe
gl ov e compa rtme nt
! Sidebags on th eouter side of the front
se ats !
Sidebags to the outsi de, ne xtto the
seats in the rear co mpartment
! Windowb agsin the edge of the roof
frame
Ai rb ag deplo yment
T he airbags in flat ewi thin millisec onds. Th e
= warning lamp com eson.
i Ifth e airbag sare deployed, you willhe ar a
bang and a small amount of powder may also be
released .The bang is not harmful toyour heari ng
and thepowder is not hazar dous toyour healt h.
Ai rb ag depl oymen tsl ows down and re-
st ricts the movement of the vehi cle occu-
pant.
Wh enthevehicl eocc upant makesconta ct
with the front ands ide airb ag s,ho tg as
fl ows out of the airb ags.Thi sredu cesthe
fo rc eac ting on the occu pant’s he adand
ch est.Th eairbags are thus def lated afte r
the accid ent. !
Mov ethe front -pas seng erseat as far
back aspossibl e, especiallyifch ildr en
ar es itti ng orsecured inarestraint sys-
te m on it.
! Rearward -facing chil drestraint syst ems
mu stnotbe fitted to the front-p assen-
ge rseat ifthe front airba gon the front-
pass engerh as notbeen dea ctivat ed .
Th ef ront passeng er's front air bagis au-
tomati cally de activate din
Me rcede s-Be nz veh icle sif ach ild re-
straint syste mwith automati c childs eat
recog nition is fitt ed tothe fr ont- passen-
ge r seat ofa vehi cle eq uippe dwith auto-
ma tic child seat recognition an dthe
9 indi cator lamp is on.
! Ifafo rwar d-facin gchi ldrest raintsystem
is fitted tothe front -pas seng er seat,the
fr ont-passenge rse at mu st be moved as
fa rb ackas poss ible.Ev en with th ese at
in this posi tion, theb eltmust be routed
fo rwards in thedir ection of trav elan d
pul led tigh t.
! Do not lean forward s, e.g. ove r the pad-
ded boss of thesteer ing whee l,pa rtic u-
larly when the vehicle is in motion.
! Do not pu tyo ur fee ton the dashboa rd. !
Onlyho ldthe steering wheel by the rim.
This all owsthe airb agtodepl oyfully.
You could be inju re dif th eairb ag isde-
pl oy ed andyou are holdingthe inside of
the stee ring wheel.
! Do not lean on thed oorsfrom inside the
vehi cle.
! Do not plac eany objects on theairbags
or between the airbags and the veh icle ’s
occ upants.
! Do not pl acean y objec tsbet ween the
seat backr ests and th edoors.
! Donot hang an yha rd object s, e.g. coat
hang ers, on thegr ab handl esor coat
hooks.
It is no tpossible to ruleout the risk ofinju-
ri es caused byan airbag dueto th ehigh
sp ee dw ith which theairb agis re quired to
deploy. 216_R
E_2006-12a.book Seit e32 Montag ,2. Oktober 2006 12:06 12

33
Safety
Oc cupa nt safety
Fr on tairbags
Th efront airbags areintended to incr ease
the leve lof protecti onto prevent inju ries
to the he ad and chest of the driver and
fr ont-passenger. Thedriver’s front airbag
an dth efront-pa sseng er's front airbag are
deploy ed:
! atthes tart of an accident wit h highve-
hicl eaccelerat ion or decele ration in a
lo ng itudin aldirection
! ifthe syst em determ ines th atairbag
de ploym entca n of ferad dition alpro-
te ction to th atprovided by the se atbe lt
! dependin gon wheth erthe se atbelt is
in use
! inde pe ndentl yof other ai rbags inthe
ve hicle !
Front airbags areno td eploye dif the
ve hicle overturn s,unless the syst em
de tects high vehicle decel eration in a
lo ng itudin aldirec tion.
Fr ont air bags
1 Driver’s fron ta irbag
2 Front-passenger fron ta irbag
Th edriver’s front airbag is inflated in front
of thest ee ring wh eel, the front-passen-
ge r'sf ront airbag is inflat edin front of and
ab ove theglove comp artment.
The fron tpassen ger's fron t airbag 2is
only activ ated if:
! the front-p assenger seat isoc cupied G
Risk of inju ry Af
ter an airb aghas bee ndeployed:
! airb ag partsa rehot. Donot touc h them,
or you co uld be bu rned.
! itmust be replac ed ataqu alifie d spe-
cia list wor ksho pwhich has theneces-
sa ry spe cial ist knowledg eand toolsto
ca rryo utthe work requ ire d.
Me rced es-Benz reco mm ends that you
us eaMe rcedes -Ben zSe rvic eCentre for
this purpose. Inpa rticular, work relevant
to sa fety or on saf ety-relate dsystem s
mu st be ca rried out ataqua lifi ed spe-
cia list wor ksho p. G
Risk of inju ry A
sm allam ount ofpowd er is release dwhen
an airbag isdepl oyed .Th ispo wd erisnot
ha zardous to he alth an d does notind icate
th at there isafire in thevehicle.The powd er
co uld causesh ort-term breathing diffi culties
in pe ople with asthma or brea thin gpr ob-
lems. To
preve ntthese breathing di ffic ul ties ,you
sh ould either:
! leav e the veh icle assoonas it is safe to
do so
or
! open thewindo wto allo w fres hairto en-
ter the int erior P91.60-3159-31216_R
E_2006-12a.book Seit e33 Montag ,2. Oktober 2006 12:06 12

34 Safety
Oc
cupant safety
! the 9 warning lamp next
to the inst ru me nt clu ster isnot lit
( = page 42)
Th ismean s thatachi ldres trai nt sys-
te m with autom atic child se atrecogni-
tion iseither not fitted or is fitted
inco rrec tly.
! Donot place any heavy obj ectson the fron t-
passeng er seat.The system migh te rron eously
in te rpret this as a per son oc cupying the seat and
th e res traint sys tems onthe fron t-passe nger
seat mightb etriggered in the event of an ac ci-
dent and would th en have tobe replac ed.
Si de bags G
Risk of inj ury Fo
r saf etyre asons, Merced es-Ben z recom-
me ndsth at you use seat cove rs thathave
be en tested for use inMe rcedes -Ben zv ehi-
cles and that ha vea special tearseam for
sideba gs.O ther wi se ,a sideba gmaynotde-
pl oy correc tlya nd cou ldfail to prov ide the
inte nded pro tection in the event ofan acci-
dent. Youcan obtain these covers from a
Me rcedes -Ben zSe rvice Centre ,fo re xam-
ple. G
Risk of inju ry To
reduce the risk of injury when a sidebag
is deployed, make sur eth at:
! there aren oo ther per sons, animal sor
objects be tweenth eve hicle occupants
an dth edeployme ntrang eo fth eside-
bags
! noaccessor ies, e.g. drinks can hol ders,
are attach edto th edo ors
! only lig htclothing ishu ng on thecoat
hooks in thevehic le
! there are no heavy or shar pobjects in
the po cketsof the clot hing onthe coat
hooks G
Risk of inju ry Ob
serve the follow ing note sto re duce the
ri sk of serious or fata l inj uryif asidebag is
deploy ed:
! Vehicle oc cupa nts–i npa rtic ular , ch il-
dren –mustnot lean their headonthe
ar ea ofthe wi ndow in whic hasideba gis
deployed. !
Vehicle occupants mustalwa ys wear
th eirsea tbe ltcor rectly an d posi tion
th eirb ackres t as clo seto the vertic al as
possi ble.
! Alwa ys secu rechi ldre nless than 1.50 m
tall orunder1 2year s of age in suitab le
child restraint syste ms. G
Risk of inju ry Th
esensors forcontr olling theairbags are
lo cat edin the doors. Do not make any
chan gesto the doors or door trim,su ch as
the retrofitting ofloud spea kers. If thedo ors
ar e damaged, the fu nction of thes idebags
ma y be impaired .Hav ewo rkcarrie dou ton
the doors on lyat aqu alified specia list wo rk-
shop which has th enecessary spe cialis t
kn owl edge andtool sto carry out the work
requi red. Me rcede s-Be nz rec ommendsth at
yo uu seaMe rced es-Benz Service Cen tre for
this purpos e. In particular ,workrelevant to
sa fety or on safety-rel at ed syst emsmu st be
ca rrie dou tat aq ualifi ed spec iali stwo rk-
shop. 216_R
E_2006-12a.book Seit e34 Montag ,2. Oktober 2006 12:06 12

35
Safety
Oc cupa nt safety
Th e purpos eof side bag deploym entis to
en hance the level of prote ction forth etho-
rax (but not the head, neck or arms)of the
ve hicle occupants on the side of the vehi-
cle on wh ichtheimpact occurs.
Th e sidebags arein the outside of the front
seat san d next to th ese atsat the re ar.You
ca nre co gnise the plac es where sidebags
are fitt edin yo urvehicle by theA IRB AG
symb ol.
1 Front sidebag
2 Rea rsi de bag
Th e sidebag dep loys next to the ba ckrest
si de cushions.
Side bags 1and 2arede ployed:
! on the side on wh ich an impact occurs !
atthe st artof an accid entwit ha high
rate of lateral veh icledeceler ation or
ac celeratio n,e.g. in aside impa ct
! indep ende ntly of the front airbags
! indep ende ntly of the belt tensi oners
! Sidebags arenot depl oyed if the
ve hicle ove rtur ns, unless thesystem
de tectshi gh vehicl ede cele ration in
al ater al dire ction.
i Inthe event of an impac ton the front-
passen ger side, the fron t-passen ger's sidebag
will onlybe triggered if thefront -pas se nger seat
oc cupanc yrecog nition system identifies that the
seat isoc cupied or if theseat belt is engaged in
th ebu ckle.
i Youc an find furt her information about how
th ea irbags work on ( =page 32).
You canfin dfurt her informati onabo utbelt ten-
sio ners and beltfo rce limi ters on (
=page 29 ).Windowb
ags
The purpos eof thewindowb agsisto en-
ha nceth elev elof protec tion fort he head
ar ea (but notchest or arms ) of the vehicle
occ upant son the side of the ve hicleon
which th eimpac t occu rs.The windowb ags
P91.60-3160-31 G
Risk of inj ury In
orde rfo r the window bagt opr ov ide its in-
tend ed level of pr otec tion, makesure that
there areno obj ectsbet ween the vehicleoc-
cup ants andth e deploy mentrange of the
wi nd ow bags. G
Risk of inj ury Ob
serve the foll owing not es to re duce the
ri sk ofser ious orfata l inj uryif the wi ndow-
bag isdepl oyed:
! Vehicle occu pants – in particular, chil-
dr en –mus tnot lean their headonthe
area of the window in whi chthe wind ow-
bag isdeploy ed.
! Vehicle occupa nts mustalwa yshave
th eir seat be lts fa sten ed corr ectly.
! Alwa ys se cure chi ldre nless than 1.50 m
tall orunder12 yearsof age in suitable
chi ldrestr aint sy stem s. 216_R
E_2006-12a.book Seit e35 Montag ,2. Oktober 2006 12:06 12