2008 MERCEDES-BENZ S550 4MATIC Maintain

66 Safety and Security
Driving safety systems
This section contains information about
Adaptive Brake Lights as well as the follow-
ing driving safety systems:

ABS (Antilock Brake System)

Adaptive Brake

BAS (Brake Assist System)

BAS Plus* (Brake Assist System Plus)

EBP (Electronic Brake Proportioning)

ESP® (Electronic Stability Program)

4MATIC (Four Wheel Electronic
Traction System)

PRE-SAFE® Brake* (Preventive Occu-
pant Safe
ty Brake)
ABS
The Antilock Brake System (ABS) regulates
the brake pressure so that the wheels do
not lock during braking. This allows you to
maintain the ability to steer your vehicle.
The ABS is functional above a speed of ap-
proximately 5 mph (8 km/h) independent
of road surface conditions.
On slippery road surfaces, the ABS will re-
spond even to light brake pressure.
The - indicator lamp in the instrument
cluster (
page 28) comes on when you
switch on the ignition (
page 344). It goes
out when the engine is running.
Warning!G
The following factors increase the risk of ac-
cidents:

Excessive speed, especially in turns

Wet and slippery road surfaces

Following another vehicle too closely
The driving safety systems described in this
section cannot reduce these risks or pre-
vent the natural laws of physics from acting
on the vehicle.
Always adapt your driving style to the pre-
vailing road and weather conditions and
keep a safe distance to other road users and
objects on the street.
iIn winter operation, the maximum effective-
ness of the ABS, Adaptive Brake, BAS,
BAS Plus*, EBP, ESP
® and 4MATIC is only
achieved with winter tires (
page 580), or snow
chains as required.
Warning!G
Do not pump the brake pedal. Use firm,
steady brake pedal pressure instead. Pump-
ing the brake pedal defeats the purpose of
the ABS and significantly reduces braking
effectiveness.

79 Safety and Security
Driving safety systems
To maintain the proper distance to the ve-
hicle in front of you and thus prevent a
rear-end collision, you must apply the
brakes yourself.
Immediately brake the vehicle to avoid
a collision.
Under no circumstances should the
driver await the intermittent warning
sound before braking. See the follow-
ing warning note.
The intermittent warning sound ceases
and the distance warning lampl
goes out when the necessary distance
to the vehicle ahead is again
established.PRE-SAFE
® Brake can react to stationary
obstacles such as standing or parked vehi-
cles at road speeds of up to approximately
40 mph (70 km/h).
Activating and deactivating: Activate
or deactivate PRE-SAFE® Brake using
the instrument cluster control system
(
page 279).
After the function has been activated,
indicator : appears on the
left-hand side of the multifunction dis-
play.
Warning!G
An intermittent warning sounds and the dis-
tance warning lampl in the instrument
cluster is illuminated if PRE-SAFE
® Brake
calculates that the distance to the vehicle
ahead and your vehicle’s current speed indi-
cate that PRE-SAFE
® Brake will not be capa-
ble of slowing the vehicle sufficiently to
maintain the preset following distance,
which creates a danger of a collision.
Immediately brake your vehicle to increase
the distance between your vehicle and the
vehicle driving in front of you. The warning
sound is intended as a final caution that you
have not interceded with your own braking
inputs to avoid a potentially dangerous situ-
ation. Do not wait for the operation of the
warning signal to intercede with your own
braking, as that will result in potentially dan-
gerous emergency braking which will not al-
ways result in an impact being avoided.
Tailgating increases the risk of an accident.
Warning!G
If you do not receive visual or acoustic warn-
ing signals, PRE-SAFE® Brake has either not
recognized the collision risk, has been deac-
tivated or is malfunctioning. Apply the
brakes yourself to avoid a collision.

112 Control systems
COMAND audio CD/audio DVD/MP3
Safety precautions
Notes about MP3 mode
Permissible media for MP3 files

CD-R and CD-RW

DVD-R and DVD-RW

PCMCIA card (page 117)Permissible file systems

ISO9660/Joliet for CDs

UDF for DVDs

FAT16 or FAT32 for PCMCIA cards with
storage medium
Multisession CDs
For multisession CDs, the first session
type of the CD determines how COMAND
will process the CD.
For example, if the first session type is ac-
cording to the audio CD standard and the
second session type is according to the
data CD standard containing MP3 tracks,
COMAND will treat the CD as a conven-
tional audio CD. This means that it is only
possible to access the audio CD tracks.
Access to the MP3 tracks is not possible.
Similarly, if the first session type is accord-
ing to the data CD standard containing
MP3 tracks and the second session type is
according to the audio CD standard,
COMAND will treat the CD as a data CD.
Warning!G
COMAND is classified as a Class 1 laser
product. You must not open the casing.
There is a risk of exposure to invisible laser
radiation if you open the casing, or if the
casing is faulty or damaged.
COMAND does not contain any parts that
you are able to maintain yourself. For safety
reasons, all maintenance work must be car-
ried out by qualified technicians.
Bear in mind that at a speed of just 30 mph
(approximately 50 km/h), your vehicle is
covering a distance of 44 feet (approximate-
ly 14 m) every second.
Warning!G
Only carry out the following when the vehi-
cle is stationary:

Inserting a disc

Ejecting a disc
There is a risk of accident by being distract-
ed from road and traffic conditions if you
load a CD/DVD while the vehicle is in mo-
tion.

124 Control systems
COMAND video DVD (USA only)
Depending on your vehicle’s production
date the COMAND video DVD function may
not be available.Automatic picture fade-out
If a video DVD is playing when the vehicle
is shifted from P into N, D or R the picture
is faded out automatically and the follow-
ing message appears in the display: “In or-
der not to distract driver, picture is faded
out while the vehicle is in motion”.
When the vehicle is shifted back intoP, the
picture comes on again.
Notes about video DVD operation
COMAND can playback commercially
available, prerecorded video DVDs that
bear the following label. You will usually
find the label on the DVD booklet, the inlay,
or the DVD itself.Some DVDs may not comply with the
NTSC or PAL TV playback standards.
Sound, picture and other playback prob-
lems may occur when you play such DVDs.
COMAND can playback video DVDs meet-
ing the following requirements:

Correct regional code

NTSC or PAL TV standard
The appropriate information is usually giv-
en either on the DVD or the DVD box. The
factory setting of COMAND is regional
code 1. The setting can be changed at an
authorized Mercedes-Benz Center. This
will allow you to playback video DVDs with
other regional codes, as long as they com-
ply with the NTSC or PAL TV standard.
Warning!G
COMAND is classified as a Class 1 laser
product. You must not open the casing.
There is a risk of exposure to invisible laser
radiation if you open the casing, or if the
casing is faulty or damaged.
COMAND does not contain any parts that
you are able to maintain yourself. For safety
reasons, all maintenance work must be car-
ried out by qualified technicians.
iVideo DVDs differ from recordable DVD-R
and DVD-RW discs.
iThere may be playback problems when play-
ing copied DVDs.
There is a large variety of discs, disc-writing soft-
ware and writers available. This variety means
that there is no guarantee that the system will be
able to play discs that you have written/copied
yourself.

280 Control systems
Instrument cluster control system
Press % or $ to select the
“Rearview camera” function.
Press #.
Press # again if you would like to
change the current status.
The following settings are available:
Service menu
The “Service” menu is used for

calling up messages

checking tire inflation pressure elec-
tronically with the Advanced TPMS*
(standard on U.S. vehicles)

activating Run Flat Indicator
(Canada only)

calling up the maintenance service in-
dicator display

check engine oil level*
Calling up vehicle malfunction, warning
and system status messages stored in
memory
Use the vehicle status message memory
menu to scan malfunction and warning
messages that may be stored in the sys-
tem. Such messages appear in the multi-function display and are based on
conditions or system status the vehicle’s
system has recorded.
The vehicle status message memory menu
only appears if there are any messages
stored.
Press ( or & to select the
“Service” menu.
“On when in
Reverse”The Dynamic Rear View
Monitor automatically
switches on when reverse
gear is engaged.
“OFF”The Dynamic Rear View
Monitor is not switched on.
iThe menu overview can be found on
(
page 266).
Warning!G
Malfunction and warning messages are only
indicated for certain systems and are inten-
tionally not very detailed. The malfunction
and warning messages are simply a remind-
er with respect to the operation of certain
systems and do not replace the owner’s
and/or driver’s responsibility to maintain
the vehicle’s operating safety by having all
required maintenance and safety checks
performed on the vehicle and by bringing
the vehicle to an authorized Mercedes-Benz
Center to address the malfunction and
warning messages (
page 612).


407 Controls in detail
Automatic transmission
Stopping
When you stop briefly, e.g. at traffic lights:
Leave the transmission in gear.
Hold the vehicle with the brake.
When you stop for a longer period of time
with the engine idling and/or on a hill:
Engage the electronic parking brake.
Shift into park positionP.
Maneuvering
When you maneuver in tight areas,
e.g. when pulling into a parking space:
Control the vehicle speed by gradually
releasing the brakes.
Accelerate gently.
Never abruptly step on the accelerator.Rocking the vehicle
Rocking the vehicle by shifting between
drive positionD and reverse gearR can
help free a vehicle stuck in mud or snow.
The engine control system of this vehicle
electronically limits shifting between drive
positionD and reverse gearR to very low
speeds, i.e. approximately 5 mph
(9 km/h). To shift between drive
positionD and reverse gearR, move the
gear selector lever past the resistance
point up or down.
Working on the vehicleHill start assist system
On uphill grades with a gradient angle of
more than 5°, the hill start assist system
maintains the pressure in the brake sys-
tem for approximately 1 second after you
have released the brake pedal. Therefore,
you can start off smoothly without the
vehicle moving immediately after releasing
the brake pedal.
Warning!G
When working on the vehicle, engage the
electronic parking brake and shift to park
positionP. Otherwise the vehicle could roll
away.
Warning!G
The hill start assist system is not designed
to function as an electronic parking brake
and does not prevent the vehicle from mov-
ing when parked on an incline.
Always engage the electronic parking brake
in addition to shifting to park positionP.

419 Controls in detail
Driving systems
Driving systems
The driving systems of your vehicle are de-
scribed on the following pages:

Cruise control (page 419) and
DISTRONIC Plus*(
page 424), with
which the vehicle can maintain a preset
speed.

Airmatic (page 440) (S 550 only) and
ABC* (
page 442) adjust the vehicle
suspension characteristics automati-
cally and control the vehicle level.

Parktronic* (page 444) and Park As-
sist* (
page 448), which serve as a
parking assistant.

Dynamic Rear View Monitor*
(
page 453) is an electronic and visu-
al parking aid.

Night View Assist* (page 461) illumi-
nates the road with infrared light in ad-
dition to the normal headlamps.
For information on the ABS, Adaptive
Brake, BAS, BAS Plus*, EBP, ESP
® and
PRE-SAFE® Brake*, see “Driving safety
systems” (
page 66).
Cruise control
The cruise control automatically maintains
the speed you set for your vehicle.
The use of the cruise control is recom-
mended for driving at a constant speed for
extended periods of time.
You can set or resume the cruise control at
any speed over 20 mph (30 km/h).
The cruise control function is operated by
means of the cruise control lever.
Warning!G
The cruise control is a convenience system
designed to assist the driver during vehicle
operation. The driver is and must always re-
main responsible for the vehicle’s speed and
for safe brake operation.
Only use the cruise control if the road,
traffic, and weather conditions make it ad-
visable to travel at a steady speed.

The use of the cruise control can be dan-
gerous on winding roads or in heavy traf-
fic because conditions do not allow safe
driving at a steady speed.

The use of the cruise control can be dan-
gerous on slippery roads. Rapid changes
in tire traction can result in wheel spin
and loss of control.

Deactivate the cruise control when driv-
ing in fog.
The “Resume” function should only be oper-
ated if the driver is fully aware of the previ-
ously set speed and wishes to resume this
particular preset speed.

421 Controls in detail
Driving systems
Remove your foot from the accelerator
pedal.
The cruise control is activated.

The last set speed appears in the
multifunction display for approxi-
mately 5 seconds.

The corresponding speedometer
segments from the selected speed
to the vehicle maximum speed in
the multifunction display are illumi-
nated.

The set speed is shown by a triangle
in the speedometer.Canceling cruise control
There are several ways to cancel the cruise
control:
Step on the brake pedal.
The cruise control is canceled. The last
speed set is stored for later use.
or
Briefly push the cruise control lever in
direction of arrow3.
The cruise control is canceled. The last
speed set is stored for later use.
iOn uphill grades, the cruise control may not
be able to maintain the set speed. Once the
grade eases, the set speed will be resumed.
On downhill grades, the cruise control maintains
the set speed by braking with the vehicle’s brake
system. In addition, on longer downhill grades
the automatic transmission will downshift auto-
matically.
iThe last stored set speed is deleted when
the engine is turned off.
iThe cruise control switches off automatical-
ly when

you step on the brake pedal

the vehicle is secured with the electronic
parking brake
In this case the segments in the multifunc-
tion display go out and no warning sounds.

the vehicle speed is below 20 mph
(30 km/h)

the ESP® is in operation or switched off with
the ESP® switch (page 73)

you set the automatic transmission toN
while driving
The segments in the multifunction display go out,
An acoustic warning sounds and the message
“Cruise control off” appears in the multifunction
display for approximately 5 seconds.
!Setting the automatic transmission toN
while driving cancels the cruise control. Howev-
er, the automatic transmission should not be set
toN while driving except to coast when the vehi-
cle is in danger of skidding (e.g. on icy roads).