2007 MERCEDES-BENZ E63AMG ECU

69 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Warning!
G
Modifications to or work improperly con-
ducted on restraint systems (such as seat
belts and anchors, emergency tensioning
devices, seat belt force limiters or air bags)
or their wiring, as well as tampering with in-
terconnected electronic systems, can lead
to the restraint systems no longer function-
ing as intended.
Air bags or emergency tensioning devices,
for example, could deploy inadvertently or
fail to deploy in accidents although the de-
celeration threshold for air bag deployment
is exceeded. Therefore, never modify the re-
straint systems. Do not tamper with elec-
tronic components or their software.
Warning!
G
In the event that the 1 indicator lamp
comes on during driving or does not come
on at all, the SRS self-check has detected a
malfunction. For your safety, we strongly
recommend that you visit an authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center immediately to have
the system checked; otherwise the SRS may
not be activated when needed in an acci-
dent, which could result in serious or fatal
injury, or it might deploy unexpectedly and
unnecessarily which could also result in
injury.
In addition, improper repair work on the SRS
creates a risk of rendering the SRS inopera-
tive or causing unintended air bag deploy-
ment. Work on the SRS must therefore only
be performed by qualified technicians. Con-
tact an authorized Mercedes-Benz Center.
If it is necessary to modify an air bag system
to accommodate a person with disabilities,
contact your local authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center or call our Customer
Assistance Center at 1-800-FOR-MERCedes
(1-800-367-6372) for details.

70 Safety and SecurityOccupant safetyAir bagsWarning!
G
Air bags are designed to reduce the poten-
tial of injury and fatality in certain frontal im-
pacts (front air bags), side impacts (side
impact air bags and window curtain air bags)
or rollovers (window curtain air bags). How-
ever, no system available today can totally
eliminate injuries and fatalities.
The activation of the air bags temporarily re-
leases a small amount of dust from the
air bags. This dust, however, is neither inju-
rious to your health, nor does it indicate a
fire in the vehicle. The dust might cause
some temporary breathing difficulty for peo-
ple 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 belts.
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.
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 nearly upright
position with your back against the seat
backrest.


Adjust the driver seat as far as possible
rearward, still permitting proper opera-
tion 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 in (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 contact your 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
inside the rim can increase the risk and
potential severity of hand/arm injury
when driver front air bag inflates.


Adjust the front passenger seat as far as
possible rearward from the dashboard
when the seat is occupied.

71 Safety and Security
Occupant safety


Occupants, especially children, should
never place their bodies or lean their
heads in the area of the door where the
side impact air bag inflates. This could
result in serious injuries or death should
the air bag be triggered. Always sit near-
ly upright, properly use the seat belts
and use an appropriately sized infant re-
straint, toddler restraint, or booster seat
recommended for the size and weight of
the child.


Canada only: Children 12 years old and
under must never ride in the front seat,
except in a Mercedes-Benz authorized
BabySmart
TM compatible child seat,
which operates with the BabySmart
TM
system installed in the vehicle to deacti-
vate the front passenger front air bag
when it is properly installed. Otherwise
they will be struck by the air bag when it
inflates in a crash. If this happens, seri-
ous or fatal injury will result.
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.
It should be noted that with respect to both
front and rear side impact air bags there is a
possibility for a side impact air bag related
injury if occupants, especially children, are
not properly seated or restrained when next
to a side impact air bag which needs to de-
ploy rapidly in a side impact in order to do its
job.
To help avoid the possibility of injury, please
follow these guidelines:
(1) Occupants, especially children, should
never place their bodies or lean their
heads in the area of the door where the
side impact air bag inflates. This could
result in serious injuries or death should
the side impact air bag be deployed.


72 Safety and SecurityOccupant safety
Safety guidelines for the seat belt,
emergency tensioning device and
air bag
(2) Always sit nearly upright, properly use
the seat belts and for children 12 years
old and under, use an appropriately
sized infant restraint, toddler restraint,
or booster seat recommended for the
size and weight of the child.
(3) Always wear seat belts properly.
If you believe that, even with the use of
these guidelines, it would be safer for your
rear seat occupants to have the rear mount-
ed side impact air bags deactivated, then
deactivation can be accomplished upon
your written request to do so at your autho-
rized Mercedes-Benz Center at an additional
cost.
Please contact your local authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center or call our Customer
Assistance Center at 1-800-FOR-MERCedes
(1-800-367-6372) for details.
i
Air bags are designed to deploy only in cer-
tain frontal impacts (front air bags), side impacts
(side impact and window curtain air bags) which
exceed preset thresholds and in certain rollovers
(window curtain air bags). Only during these
events will they provide their supplemental pro-
tection.
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 be deployed. 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 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
that the vehicle will continue to provide supple-
mental crash protection for occupants.
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. Use only
seat belts installed or supplied by an au-
thorized Mercedes-Benz Center.


Air bags and emergency tensioning de-
vices (ETDs) are designed to function on
a one-time-only basis. An air bag or ETD
that was activated must be replaced.


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 front seat
backrests, door trim panels,


73 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
When you sell your vehicle we strongly
urge you to give notice to the subsequent
owner that it is equipped with an SRS by
alerting them to the applicable section in
the Operator’s Manual.
or door frame trims, and installation of
additional electrical/electronic equip-
ment on or near SRS components and
wiring. Keep area between air bags and
occupants free from objects (e.g. pack-
ages, purses, umbrellas, etc.).


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.


Do not hang items such as coat hangers
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 de-
ployed.


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.


Air bag system components will be hot
after an air bag has inflated. Do not
touch.


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 autho-
rized 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.


Given the considerable deployment
speed, required inflation volume, and
the textile structure of the air bags,
there is the possibility of abrasions or
other, potentially more serious injuries
resulting from air bag deployment.
Warning!
G
Only use seat covers which have been test-
ed and approved by Mercedes-Benz for your
vehicle model. Using other seat covers may
interfere with or prevent the deployment of
the side impact air bags. Contact your au-
thorized Mercedes-Benz Center for availabil-
ity.

74 Safety and SecurityOccupant safetyFront air bags
1Driver front air bag
2Front passenger front air bag
Driver and front passenger front air bags
are deployed:

in the event of certain frontal impacts


if impact exceeds a preset deployment
threshold


independently of the side impact
air bagsThe air bags will not deploy in impacts
which do not exceed the system’s deploy-
ment thresholds. You will then be protect-
ed by the fastened seat belts.The front passenger front air bag will only
be deployed if:


the system senses that the front pas-
senger seat is occupied


the 75 indicator lamp in
the center console is not lit
(page 79)


the impact exceeds a preset deploy-
ment threshold
i
The front air bags in this vehicle have been
designed to inflate in two stages. This allows the
air bag to have different rates of inflation that are
based on the rate of vehicle deceleration as as-
sessed by the air bag control unit.
USA only:
On the front passenger side, the front air bag de-
ployment is additionally influenced by the pas-
senger’s weight category as identified by the
Occupant Classification System (OCS)
(
page 75).
USA only:
The lighter the front passenger side occupant,
the higher the vehicle deceleration rate required
for the second stage inflation of the air bag.
!
Canada only:
Do not place objects heavier than 20 lb (9 kg) on
the front passenger seat. This could cause the
front or side impact air bag on the front passen-
ger side to deploy in a crash which exceeds the
system’s deployment threshold.

75 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Side impact air bags, window curtain
air bags
1Side impact air bags
2Window curtain air bag
The side impact air bags1 and window
curtain air bags2 are deployed:

on the impacted side of the vehicle


in impacts exceeding a preset deploy-
ment threshold


independently of the front air bagsIn addition, the window curtain air bags 2
are deployed:


in certain vehicle rollovers
The side impact air bags1 and window
curtain air bags2 are not deployed in im-
pacts which do not exceed the system’s
deployment threshold.Occupant Classification System
(USA only)
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. i
The system does not deactivate the front
passenger side impact air bag, the window cur-
tain air bag and the emergency tensioning de-
vice.

76 Safety and SecurityOccupant safetyFurthermore, 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 di-
rections at all times.
Both driver and the front passenger should
always use the 75 indicator
lamp as an indication of whether or not the
front passenger is properly positioned.i
If 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.
Warning!
G
If the 75 indicator lamp illumi-
nates when an adult or someone larger than
a small individual is in the front passenger
seat, have the front passenger re-position
himself or herself in the seat until the
75 indicator lamp goes out, or
check whether objects are caught under or
around the seat.
More information about air bag display mes-
sages (
page 403).
In the event of a collision, the air bag control
unit will not allow front passenger front
air bag deployment when the OCS classified
the front passenger seat occupant as being
up to or less than the weight of a typical
12-month-old child in a standard child re-
straint or if the front passenger seat is
sensed as being empty.
When the OCS senses that the front passen-
ger seat occupant is classified as being up
to or less than the weight of a typical
12-month-old child in a standard child re-
straint, the 75 indicator lamp
will illuminate when the engine is started
and remain illuminated, indicating that the
front passenger front air bag is deactivated.
When the OCS senses that the front passen-
ger seat is classified as being empty, the
75 indicator lamp will illumi-
nate when the engine is started and remain
illuminated, indicating that the front passen-
ger front air bag is deactivated.