2006 MERCEDES-BENZ R350 ESP

126 Controls in detailLocking and unlocking
Closing the tailgate from the outside
(vehicles without KEYLESS-GO*)
In vehicles with tailgate opening/closing
system* you can close the tailgate sepa-
rately from the outside using the tailgate
closing switch or the Šbutton on the
SmartKey.
1Tailgate closing switch
Warning!
G
To prevent possible personal injury, always
keep hands and fingers away from the cargo
compartment opening when closing the tail-
gate. Be especially careful when small chil-
dren are around.
When leaving the vehicle, always remove the
SmartKey or SmartKey with KEYLESS-GO*
from the starter switch, take it with you, and
lock the vehicle. Do not leave children unat-
tended in the vehicle, or with access to an
unlocked vehicle. Unsupervised use of vehi-
cle equipment may cause an accident
and/or serious personal injury.Warning!
G
Only drive with the tailgate closed as,
among other dangers such as blocked
visibility, exhaust fumes may enter the
vehicle interior.
iTo prevent an inadvertent lockout, do
not place the SmartKey in the cargo
compartment.
Vehicles with KEYLESS-GO*:
To prevent a possible inadvertent lock-
out, the tailgate will open automatically
if a SmartKey with KEYLESS-GO is
recognized inside the vehicle.iIf the vehicle was previously centrally
locked with the SmartKey or
KEYLESS-GO, the tailgate will lock
automatically after closing it. The turn
signals flash three times to confirm
locking.


127 Controls in detail
Locking and unlocking

Press tailgate closing switch1 briefly.
The tailgate closes.
If the tailgate comes into contact with an
object while closing (e.g. luggage that has
been piled too high), the closing procedure
is stopped and the tailgate reopens
slightly.iYou can also close the tailgate manual-
ly (
page 125).
Warning!
G
Monitor the closing procedure carefully to
make sure no one is in danger of being in-
jured. To prevent possible personal injury,
always keep hands and fingers away from
the cargo compartment opening when clos-
ing the tailgate. Be especially careful when
small children are around. To stop the clos-
ing procedure, do one of the following:

Press the tailgate closing switch1.


Press the Šbutton on the SmartKey.


Press or pull the remote tailgate switch
(on the driver’s door).
Even with the SmartKey removed from the
starter switch, the tailgate closing switch
can be operated. Therefore, do not leave
children unattended in the vehicle, or with
access to an unlocked vehicle. Unsuper-
vised use of vehicle equipment may cause
an accident and/or serious personal injury.
Warning!
G
Only drive with the tailgate closed as,
among other dangers such as blocked
visibility, exhaust fumes may enter the vehi-
cle interior.iDo not place the SmartKey in the open
cargo compartment. You may lock
yourself out.iIf the vehicle was previously centrally
locked, the tailgate will lock automati-
cally after closing it. The turn signals
will flash three times to confirm lock-
ing.

128 Controls in detailLocking and unlockingClosing the tailgate from the outside
(vehicles with KEYLESS-GO*)
In vehicles with tailgate opening/closing
system* you can close the tailgate sepa-
rately from the outside using the tailgate
closing switch or the Šbutton on the
SmartKey.
1Tailgate closing switch
Make sure you have the SmartKey with
KEYLESS-GO* with you.

Press tailgate closing switch 1 briefly.
The tailgate closes.If the tailgate comes into contact with an
object while closing (e.g. luggage that has
been piled too high), the closing procedure
is stopped and the tailgate reopens slight-
ly.
iYou can also close the tailgate manual-
ly (
page 125).
iTo prevent a possible inadvertent lock-
out, the tailgate will open automatically
if a SmartKey with KEYLESS-GO* is
recognized inside the vehicle.
Warning!
G
Monitor the closing procedure carefully to
make sure no one is in danger of being in-
jured. To prevent possible personal injury,
always keep hands and fingers away from
the cargo compartment opening when clos-
ing the tailgate. Be especially careful when
small children are around. To stop the clos-
ing procedure, do one of the following:

Press the tailgate closing switch1.


Press the KEYLESS-GO locking/closing
switch.


Press the Šbutton on the SmartKey
with KEYLESS-GO.


Press or pull the remote tailgate switch
(on the driver’s door).

130 Controls in detailLocking and unlocking
Automatic central locking
The doors and the tailgate lock automati-
cally when the ignition is switched on and
the wheels are turning at vehicle speeds of
approximately 9 mph (15 km/h) or more.You can open a locked door from the in-
side. Open door only when conditions are
safe to do so.
For information on towing the vehicle, see
“Towing the vehicle” (
page 499).
You can deactivate the automatic locking
mode using the control system
(
page 188).
Warning!
G
Monitor the closing procedure carefully to
make sure no one is in danger of being in-
jured. To prevent possible personal injury,
always keep hands and fingers away from
the cargo compartment opening when clos-
ing the tailgate. Be especially careful when
small children are around. To stop the clos-
ing procedure, do one of the following:

Press the tailgate closing switch1.


Press the KEYLESS-GO locking/closing
switch*.


Press the Šbutton on the SmartKey
with KEYLESS-GO*.


Press or pull the remote tailgate switch
(on the driver’s door).
Even with the SmartKey with KEYLESS-GO*
removed from the vehicle, the tailgate
closing switch can be operated. Therefore,
do not leave children unattended in the ve-
hicle, or with access to an unlocked vehicle.
Unsupervised use of vehicle equipment may
cause an accident and/or serious personal
injury.Warning!
G
Only drive with the tailgate closed as,
among other dangers such as blocked
visibility, exhaust fumes may enter the vehi-
cle interior.
iThe doors unlock automatically after an
accident if the force of the impact ex-
ceeds a preset threshold.
The vehicle automatically locks when
the ignition is switched on and the
wheels are turning at vehicle speeds of
approximately 9 mph (15 km/h) or
more. You could therefore lock yourself
out when the vehicle

is pushed or towed


is on a test stand


during a wheel change

133 Controls in detailSeats
When entering the vehicle, with the
easy-entry/exit feature activated, the
steering wheel or, depending on your se-
lection, the steering wheel and driver’s
seat will return to their last set memory po-
sition or a factory-set maximum forward
position when you

close the driver’s door with the ignition
switched on


insert the SmartKey into the starter
switch or press the KEYLESS-GO*
start/stop button (
page 40) once
with the driver’s door closed
iIf the current position for the steering
wheel is in the uppermost tilt position,
the steering wheel will no longer be
able to move upward when the
easy-entry/exit feature is activated.
If the current seat position falls into a
factory-set position range and the sys-
tem recognizes the current seat posi-
tion to be rearward enough for easy
entry and exit, the driver’s seat will not
move to the rear when the
easy-entry/exit feature is activated.
iFor safety reasons, the driver’s seat will
not return to its last set position with
the easy-entry/exit feature activated if
the system recognizes the last set posi-
tion as an extreme forward position. In-
stead, the driver’s seat will remain at or
move to a factory-set maximum for-
ward position. To again fully return the
driver’s seat to your last set position or
to memory position, adjust the seat to
the desired position or press and hold
the respective memory position button
(page 145).
iVehicles with memory function*:
The steering wheel and seat position is
stored into memory when you

switch off the ignition (
page 38)


allocate the current position steer-
ing wheel and seat position to a cer-
tain memory position button
(page 145)

142 Controls in detailSeats
1Seat heating switch, front seats
2Indicator lamps
Switch on the ignition (
page 38).
Switching on

Press switch1.
Three red indicator lamps2 in the
switch come on.

Continue pressing switch1 until
desired seat heating level is reached.
Warning!
G
The seat heating switches off automatically.
However, should a malfunction occur and
the automatic switch-off function fail, the
seat cushion and seat backrest can become
very hot. This may cause burns.
Always be aware of the selected heating
level for all seats equipped with seat heat-
ing. Vehicle occupants, especially occu-
pants who suffer from spinal cord injuries or
spinal cord disorders, may not notice that
the seat heating is switched on and/or if the
seat heating does not switch off as intend-
ed. To reduce the risk of burns and personal
injury, take notice of wether and how the
seat heaters are operational and switch off
manually if necessary.
Leveloff
No indicator lamps on.
1
One indicator lamp on.
The seat heating automatically
switches off after approximately
20 minutes.
2
Two indicator lamps on.
The seat heating automatically
switches to level 1 after approxi-
mately 10 minutes.
3
Three indicator lamps on.
The seat heating automatically
switches to level 2 after approxi-
mately 5 minutes.

145 Controls in detail
Memory function*
The memory button and stored position
buttons are located on the entry side of
each front seat base.
MMemory button
1, 2, 3Stored positions
Switch on the ignition (
page 38).
or

Open the respective door.
Storing positions into memory
Adjust the seats, steering wheel and
exterior rear view mirrors to the de-
sired position (
page 42).

Press memory buttonM.

Release memory button M and press
stored position 1, 2 or 3 within
3 seconds.
All settings are stored to the selected
position.
Recalling positions from memory
Press and hold memory position
button1,2 or3 until the seat, steering
wheel and exterior rear view mirrors
have fully moved to the stored posi-
tions.!Do not operate the power seats using
memory button M if the seat backrest
is in an excessively reclined position.
Doing so could cause damage to front
or rear seats.
First move seat backrest to an upright
position.iReleasing the memory position button
stops movement to the stored posi-
tions immediately.

148 Controls in detailLighting
Manual headlamp mode
The low beam headlamps and the parking
lamps can be switched on and off with the
exterior lamp switch.
Automatic headlamp mode
The following lamps switch on and off au-
tomatically depending on the brightness of
the ambient light:

Low beam headlamps


Tail and parking lamps


License plate lamps


Side marker lamps
iWith the SmartKey removed from the
starter switch and the driver’s door
open, a warning sounds if the parking
lamps or low beam headlamps are
switched on.
The message
Switch off lights

appears in the multifunction display.
iWith the daytime running lamp mode
activated and the engine running, the
low beam headlamps cannot be
switched off manually.
For information on how to activate the
daytime running lamp mode, see “Day-
time running lamp mode”
(page 149).
Warning!
G
If the exterior lamp switch is set toU,

the headlamps may switch off unexpect-
edly when the system senses bright
ambient light, for example light from
oncoming traffic


the headlamps will not be automatically
switched on under foggy conditions
To minimize risk to you and to others,
activate headlamps by turning exterior lamp
switch toB when driving or when traffic
and/or ambient lighting conditions require
you to do so.
In low ambient lighting conditions, only
switch from positionU toB with the
vehicle at a standstill in a safe location.
Switching fromUtoB will briefly
switch off the headlamps. Doing so while
driving in low ambient lighting conditions
may result in an accident.
The automatic headlamp feature is only an
aid to the driver. The driver is responsible for
the operation of the vehicle’s lights at all
times.