42 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Air bags
Warning!G
Air bags are designed to reduce the poten-
tial of injury and fatality in certain frontal im-
pacts (front air bags, driver-side knee bag),
side impacts (side impact air bags and win-
dow curtain air bags) or rollovers (window
curtain air bags). However, no system avail-
able today can completely eliminate injuries
and fatalities.
The deployment of the air bags temporarily
releases a small amount of dust from the air
bags. This dust, however, is neither injurious
to your health, nor does it indicate a fire in
the vehicle. The dust might cause some tem-
porary breathing difficulty for people with
asthma or other breathing trouble. To avoid
this, you may wish to get out of the vehicle
as soon as it is safe to do so. If you have any
breathing difficulty but cannot get out of the
vehicle after the air bag inflates, then get
fresh air by opening a window or door.
Warning!G
To reduce the risk of injury when the front
air bags inflate, it is very important for the
driver and front passenger to always be in a
properly seated position and to wear their
respective seat belt.
For maximum protection in the event of a
collision always be in normal seated position
with your back against the backrest. Fasten
your seat belt and make sure that it is prop-
erly positioned on your body (
page 360).
Since the air bag inflates with considerable
speed and force, a proper seating and hands
on steering wheel position will help to keep
you at a safe distance from the air bag.
Occupants who are unbelted, out of position
or too close to the air bag can be seriously
injured or killed by an air bag as it inflates
with great force in the blink of an eye:
Sit properly belted in a position that is
as upright as possible with your back
against the seat backrest.
Adjust the driver’s seat as far as possi-
ble rearward, still permitting proper op-
eration of vehicle controls. The distance
from the center of the driver’s breast-
bone to the center of the air bag cover
on the steering wheel must be at least
10 inches (25 cm) or more. You should
be able to accomplish this by a combina-
tion of adjustments to the seat and
steering wheel. If you have any prob-
lems, please see an authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center.
Do not lean your head or chest close to
the steering wheel or dashboard.
Keep hands on the outside of steering
wheel rim. Placing hands and arms in-
side the rim can increase the risk and
potential severity of hand/arm injury
when driver’s front air bag inflates.
Adjust the front passenger seat as far as
possible rearward from the dashboard
when the seat is occupied.
43 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Occupants, especially children, should
always sit as upright as possible, proper-
ly use the seat belts and use an appro-
priately sized infant restraint, toddler
restraint, or booster seat recommended
for the size and weight of the child.
Failure to follow these instructions can
result in severe injuries to you or other
occupants.
If you sell your vehicle, it is important that
you make the buyer aware of this safety
information. Be sure to give the buyer this
Operator’s Manual.Warning!G
Accident research shows that the safest
place for children in an automobile is in the
rear seat.
There is a possibility for a side impact air
bag related injury if occupants, especially
children, are not properly seated or re-
strained when next to a side impact air bag
which needs to deploy rapidly in a side im-
pact in order to do its job.
To help avoid the possibility of injury, please
follow these guidelines:
(1) Always sit as upright as possible, prop-
erly use the seat belts, and for all chil-
dren 12 years old and under, use an
appropriately sized infant restraint, tod-
dler restraint, or booster seat recom-
mended for the size and weight of the
child.
(2) Always wear seat belts properly.
iAir bags are designed to deploy only in cer-
tain frontal impacts (front air bags, driver-side
knee bag), and in side impacts (side impact and
window curtain air bags) which exceed preset
thresholds, and in certain rollovers (window cur-
tain air bags). Only during these events will they
provide their supplemental protection.
The driver and passengers should always wear
their seat belts. Otherwise it is not possible for
air bags to provide their supplemental protec-
tion.
In case of other types of impacts and impacts be-
low air bag deployment thresholds, air bags will
not deploy. The driver and passenger will then be
protected to the extent possible by a properly
fastened seat belt. A properly fastened seat belt
is also needed to provide the best possible pro-
tection in a rollover.
We caution you not to rely on the presence of the
air bags in order to avoid wearing your seat belt.
It is important to your safety and that of your pas-
sengers that you replace deployed air bags and
repair any malfunctioning air bags to make sure
the vehicle will continue to provide supplemental
crash protection for occupants.
44 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Safety guidelines for the seat belt,
emergency tensioning device and
air bag
Warning!G
Damaged seat belts or seat belts that
were highly stressed in an accident
must be replaced and their anchoring
points must also be checked. Only use
seat belts installed or supplied by an au-
thorized Mercedes-Benz Center.
Air bags and pyrotechnic Emergency
Tensioning Devices (ETDs) are designed
to function on a one-time-only basis. An
air bag or ETD that is deployed must be
replaced.
Do not pass seat belts over sharp edges.
They could tear.
Do not make any modification that could
change the effectiveness of the seat
belts.
Do not bleach or dye seat belts as this
may severely weaken them. In a crash
they may not be able to provide ade-
quate protection.
No modifications of any kind may be
made to any components or wiring of
the SRS. This includes changing or re-
moving any component or part of the
SRS, the installation of additional trim
material, badges, etc. over the steering
wheel hub, front passenger front air bag
cover, outboard sides of the seat back-
rests, door trim panels, or door frame
trims, and installation of additional
electrical/electronic equipment on or
near SRS components and wiring. Keep
area between air bags and occupants
free from objects (e.g. packages, purs-
es, umbrellas, etc.).
Do n o t h a ng i te ms su ch as c o at ha n ger s
from the coat hooks or handles over the
door. These items may turn into projec-
tiles and cause head and other injuries
when the window curtain air bag is
deployed.
Air bag system components will be hot
after an air bag has inflated. Do not
touch.
Never place your feet on the instrument
panel, dashboard, or on the seat. Always
keep both feet on the floor in front of the
seat.
In addition, improper repair work on the
SRS creates a risk of rendering the SRS
inoperative or causing unintended air
bag deployment. Work on the SRS must
therefore only be performed by qualified
technicians. Contact an authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center.
For your protection and the protection
of others, when scrapping the air bag
unit or emergency tensioning device,
our safety instructions must be fol-
lowed. These instructions are available
from your authorized Mercedes-Benz
Center.
47 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Window curtain air bags
1Window curtain air bag
The side window curtain air bags are de-
ployed:
in impacts exceeding a preset deploy-
ment threshold
on the impacted side of the vehicle
independently of the front air bags
in certain vehicle rollovers
The side window curtain air bags are not
deployed in impacts which do not exceed
the system’s deployment threshold.
The window curtain air bags fill up the area
indicated by the arrows.
Occupant Classification System
The Occupant Classification System (OCS)
automatically turns the front passenger
front air bag on or off based on the classi-
fied occupant weight category determined
by weight sensor readings from the front
passenger seat.
Occupants must sit properly belted in a po-
sition that is as upright as possible with
their back against the seat backrest and
feet on the floor to be correctly classified.
If the occupant’s weight is transferred to
another object in the vehicle (e.g. by lean-
ing on armrests), the OCS may not be able
to properly approximate the occupant’s
weight category.
Furthermore, the occupant weight may ap-
pear to increase or decrease due to
objects hanging on the seat, other passen-
gers pushing on the seat, objects lodged underneath the seat or stuffed between
seat and middle console or between seat
and door or due to objects applying pres-
sure on the back of the seat. Always make
sure that the seat has clearance in all
directions at all times.
Both driver and the front passenger should
always use the 59indicator
lamp as an indication of whether or not the
front passenger is properly positioned.
iThe system does not deactivate the front
passenger side impact air bag, the window cur-
tain air bag and the emergency tensioning de-
vice.
iIf your seat, including your trim cover and
cushion needs to be serviced in any way, take
the vehicle to your authorized Mercedes-Benz
Center.
Only seat accessories approved by
Mercedes-Benz may be used.
53 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Warning!G
Never ride in a moving vehicle with the seat
backrest in an excessively reclined position
as this can be dangerous. You could slide
under the seat belt in a collision. If you slide
under it, the belt would apply force at the ab-
domen or neck. That could cause serious or
even fatal injuries. The seat backrest and
seat belt provide the best restraint when the
wearer is in a position that is as upright as
possible and the belt is properly positioned
on the body.
Warning!G
Never let more people ride in the vehicle
than there are seat belts available. Make
sure everyone riding in the vehicle is cor-
rectly restrained with a separate seat belt.
Never use a seat belt for more than one per-
son at a time.
Warning!G
Damaged seat belts or seat belts that were
highly stressed in an accident must be re-
placed and their anchoring points must also
be checked.
Only use seat belts which have been
approved by Mercedes-Benz.
Do not make any modifications to the seat
belts. This can lead to unintended activation
of the ETDs or to failure.
Do not bleach or dye seat belts as this may
severely weaken them. In a crash they may
not be able to provide adequate protection.
Have all work carried out only by qualified
technicians. Contact an authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center.
Warning!G
USE SEAT BELTS PROPERLY
Seat belts can only work when used
properly. Never wear seat belts in any
other way than as described in this sec-
tion, as that could result in serious inju-
ries in case of an accident.
Each occupant should wear their seat
belt at all times, because seat belts help
reduce the likelihood of and potential
severity of injuries in accidents, includ-
ing rollovers. The integrated restraint
system includes SRS (driver air bag,
driver-side knee bag, passenger front air
bag, side impact air bags, window cur-
tain air bags for side windows), ETD
(seat belt emergency tensioning device
with seat belt force limiters), and front
seat knee bolsters. The system is de-
signed to enhance the protection of-
fered to properly belted occupants in
certain frontal (front air bags, driver-side
knee bag and ETD with seat belt force
limiters) and side (side impact and win-
dow curtain air bags) impacts
56 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Preventive occupant safety
(PRE-SAFE®)
Your vehicle automatically takes preven-
tive measures to better protect the occu-
pants in the following hazardous
situations.PRE-SAFE
® takes action in the following in-
stances:
Emergency braking maneuver and the
Brake Assist System (BAS) (
page 66)
is activated
or when
BAS Plus* (
page 67) is strongly inter-
vening.
Critical dynamic driving situations, e.g.
when the vehicle is understeering or
oversteering because it has exceeded
its physical limitations.
Evasive steering maneuvers at speeds
above 20 mph (30 km/h).
When you are driving faster than 20 mph
(30 km/h), PRE-SAFE
® takes the following
measures in such situations:
If the OCS senses that the front pas-
senger seat is occupied and the seat is
in an unfavorable position, it will be
adjusted to a better position.
The system increases the air pressure
in the air pockets (on the sides of the
seat cushion and backrest) of the
drive-dynamic multicontour front
seats*.
If the vehicle is understeering or over-
steering, the tilt/sliding sunroof and
the front side windows also close until
only a small gap remains.
Once the hazardous situation is over with-
out an accident occurring, PRE-SAFE
® de-
creases the air pressure in the air pockets
of the drive-dynamic multicontour front
seats*. You can readjust all of the settings
made by PRE-SAFE
®.
Warning!G
The PRE-SAFE® system is intended to re-
duce the effects of an accident on properly
seat-belted vehicle occupants. Despite
having the PRE-SAFE
® system in your vehi-
cle, the possibility of injuries occurring as a
result of an accident cannot be eliminated.
Therefore, you should always drive carefully
and adjust your driving to the prevailing
road, weather, and traffic conditions.
iIf the closing procedure of the tilt/sliding
sunroof or door windows is blocked, the tilt/slid-
ing sunroof or door windows will stop and open
slightly.
62 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Fold upholstery cover3 upward.
Turn installation device4 to a vertical
position so that upholstery cover3
does not fold down.
Install child seat according to the
manufacturer’s instructions.
A rigid connection is established be-
tween the child seat and the body of
the vehicle.
Blocking of rear side window operation
You can block the rear side window opera-
tion (for instance when you have children
riding in the rear passenger compartment).
The override switch is located on the door
control panel of the driver’s door.
1Override switch
2Indicator lamp
Activating: Press switch 1.
Indicator lamp2 comes on. The rear
side windows can no longer be operat-
ed using the respective switch located
in the rear trim panels.
Deactivating: Press switch 1 again.
Indicator lamp2 goes out. The rear
side windows can be operated using
the respective switch located in the
rear trim panels.
iT h e c h i l d s e a t m u s t b e f i r m l y a t t a c h e d t o t h e
right and left side anchor fittings.
Non-LATCH type child seats may also be used
and can be installed using the vehicle’s seat belt
system. Install child seat according to the
manufacturer’s instructions.
Warning!G
Activate the override switch when children
are riding in the back seats of the vehicle.
The children may otherwise injure them-
selves, e.g. by becoming trapped in the win-
dow opening.
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. A child’s unsupervised ac-
cess to a vehicle could result in an accident
and/or serious personal injury.
iOperation of the rear side windows with the
switches located in the driver’s door is still pos-
sible.
86 Control systems
COMAND introduction
Operating COMAND
Menu overview
The illustration below shows the structure
of the main functions and their main
menus.Each main function has a main menu. Each
menu item in turn has several submenu
items.
NaviPageAudioPageTelephone*PageVehiclePage
Commands/menus
Map Display159FM/AM Radio95Telephone*120Exterior Lighting Delayed Switch-off235
Mode161Sat Radio
(USA only)100Address Book*214Locator Lighting236
CD107Telephone OFF*122Exterior Mirror Convenience Settings237
DVD-Audio107Automatic Locking238
MP3107Easy Entry/Exit Feature239
Audio OFF94Interior Lighting Delayed Switch-off241
Interior Ambient Light240
Rear Window Sunshade*242
Trunk Opening-height Restriction*242
Tow-away Alarm243