2008 MERCEDES-BENZ S550 4MATIC steering wheel adjustment

Contents
Controls in detail............................. 331
Locking and unlocking ....................... 332
SmartKey ..................................... 332
SmartKey with KEYLESS-GO*....... 335
Checking batteries in the
SmartKey or SmartKey with
KEYLESS-GO*............................... 340
Loss of the SmartKey or
SmartKey with KEYLESS-GO*....... 340
Opening doors from the inside ..... 341
Power closing assist for doors
and trunk lid ................................. 342
Automatic central locking ............ 342
Locking and unlocking from
the inside ..................................... 343
Starter switch positions ..................... 344
SmartKey ..................................... 344
SmartKey with KEYLESS-GO*....... 345
Seats.................................................. 347
Seat adjustment ........................... 347
Seat heating* ............................... 351
Seat ventilation* .......................... 352
Head restraints............................. 353
Multicontour seats*, rear ............. 356
Easy-entry/exit feature ................ 357Steering wheel ................................... 359
Steering wheel adjustment .......... 359
Heated steering wheel* ............... 360
Mirrors ............................................... 361
Interior rear view mirror ............... 361
Exterior rear view mirrors............. 361
Power folding exterior
rear view mirrors .......................... 362
Auto-dimming rear view mirrors ... 363
Activating exterior rear view
mirror parking position................. 364
Memory function ............................... 365
Storing positions into memory ..... 366
Recalling positions from memory . 366
Storing exterior rear view mirror
parking position ........................... 367
Fastening the seat belts .................... 368
Proper use of seat belts ............... 370
Seat belt height adjustment ......... 370
Lighting.............................................. 371
Exterior lamp switch..................... 371
Switching on high beams ............. 375
Headlamp cleaning system .......... 375
Corner-illuminating lamps ............ 376
Hazard warning flasher ................ 377
Interior lighting............................. 378Door entry lamps ......................... 379
Courtesy lighting .......................... 380
Trunk lamp ................................... 380
Windshield wipers ............................. 381
Switching on/off
windshield wipers ........................ 381
Intermittent wiping ...................... 382
Single wipe .................................. 382
Wiping with windshield washer
fluid.............................................. 382
Power windows ................................. 383
Opening and closing
power windows ............................ 383
Rear side window sunshades* ..... 385
Summer opening feature ............. 385
Convenience closing feature ........ 386
Driving and parking ........................... 389
Starting the engine ...................... 389
Driving off .................................... 392
Turn signals.................................. 393
Problems while driving ................. 393
Parking......................................... 394
Turning off the engine .................. 397
Releasing seat belts ..................... 398
Automatic transmission..................... 399
Gear selector lever....................... 399

27 At a glance
Cockpit
ItemPage
1Combination switch

High beam

Corner-illuminating lamps

Windshield wipers

Turn signals
375
376
381
393
2Lever for

Cruise control

DISTRONIC Plus*
420
424
3Horn
4Multifunction steering wheel265
5Instrument cluster28
6Steering wheel gearshift con-
trol411
7Gear selector lever for
automatic transmission389
ItemPage
8Control panel with

Front passenger front
air bag indicator lamp

Vehicle level control
switch

Electronic Stability Pro-
gram (ESP®) switch

Parktronic*/Park Assist*
deactivation switch

Swivel COMAND display

COMAND/instrument
cluster display
illumination
50
441,
443
73
447,
452
87
417
9COMAND display85
aOverhead control panel33
bAutomatic climate control
Center console, upper part 469
32
ItemPage
cGlove box lock494
dCover of compartment with

CD/DVD changer

PCMCIA card slot
115
117
eCenter console, lower part30
fStarter switch
KEYLESS-GO* start/stop
button344
345
gSteering wheel adjustment
Heated steering wheel* 359
360
hHeadlamp cleaning button375
jElectronic parking brake395
kHood lock release541
lDoor control panel34
mNight View Assist*461
nExterior lamp switch371

34 At a glance
Driver’s door control panel
ItemPage
1Inside door handle341
2Central unlocking switch341
3Central locking switch341
4Memory function (for storing
seat, exterior mirror, and
steering wheel settings)365
5Selector button for front
passenger seat350
6Seat heating
Seat ventilation*351
352
7Seat adjustment347
ItemPage
8Exterior rear view mirror
adjustment
Mirror folding function361
362
9Switches for opening/ closing
door windows
Switches for opening/ closing
rear door window sunshades*383
385
aRemote trunk opening/clos-
ing* switch479
bOverride switch for rear pas-
senger compartment 63

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), side impacts (side
impact air bags and window curtain air bags)
or rollovers (window curtain air bags). How-
ever, no system available today can com-
pletely 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 368).
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 contact 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.

246 Control systems
COMAND vehicle menu
Activating easy-entry/exit feature
Use this function to activate and deacti-
vate the easy-entry/exit feature
(
page 357).
The following settings are available for the
easy-entry/exit feature:
Select “Vehicle”.
The main area is active.
Selecting “Easy Entry/Exit Feature”
menu: Slide omp or rotate ymz.
Confirming selection: Press n.
or
Select “Vehicle”
“Vehicle”
“Easy
Entry/Exit Feature”.
Confirming selection: Press n.
A selection list appears.
The current setting is indicated by a
dotR.
iThe components and operating principles of
COMAND can be found on (
page 85).
OFFThe easy-entry/exit
feature is deactivated.
Steering Column
& SeatBoth the steering col-
umn and the driver’s
seat are moved.
Warning!G
You must make sure no one can become
trapped or injured by the moving steering
wheel and driver’s seat when the easy-en-
try/exit feature is activated.
To stop seat/steering wheel movement, do
one of the following:

Press seat adjustment switch
(
page 348).

Move steering wheel adjustment stalk
(
page 359).

Press one of the memory position but-
tons or the memory button M
(
page 366).
Do not leave children unattended in the ve-
hicle, or with access to an unlocked vehicle.
Children could open the driver’s door and
unintentionally activate the easy-entry/exit
feature, which could result in an accident
and/or serious personal injury.

348 Controls in detail
Seats
You can adjust the lumbar support, multi-
contour seats* for driver and front passen-
ger, as well as drive-dynamic multicontour
seats* using COMAND (
page 259).Front power seat adjustment
Example driver’s door
1Head restraint height (page 353)
2Seat height
3Seat cushion tilt
4Seat cushion depth
5Seat fore and aft
6Seat backrest tilt
Switch on the ignition (page 344).
or
Open the respective door.
Seat height: Press the switch up or
down in the direction of arrow2.
Seat cushion tilt: Press the switch up
or down in the direction of
arrow3until your upper legs are
lightly supported.
Seat cushion depth: Press the switch
forward or backward in the direction of
arrow4 until your legs are supported
comfortably.
Warning!G
According to accident statistics, children
are safer when properly restrained in the
rear seating positions than in the front seat-
ing position. Thus, we strongly recommend
that children be placed in the rear seats
whenever possible. Regardless of seating
position, children 12 years old and under
must be seated and properly secured in an
appropriately sized infant restraint, toddler
restraint, or booster seat recommended for
the size and weight of the child. For addi-
tional information, see “Children in the vehi-
cle” (
page 57).
A child’s risk of serious or fatal injuries is
significantly increased if the child restraints
are not properly secured in the vehicle and
the child is not properly secured in the child
restraint.
iIf PRE-SAFE® has been activated, the front
passenger’s seat and/or electrically adjustable
rear seats* will be moved to a more favorable
seat position.
iThe memory function (page 365) lets you
store the settings for the seat positions together
with the settings for the steering wheel and the
exterior rear view mirrors.
!When moving the seats, make sure there are
no items in the footwell or behind the seats; oth-
erwise, you could damage the seats.

357 Controls in detail
Seats
Selecting a seat: Press rocker
switch1 or7 forward or backward.
The indicator lamp on the selected but-
ton lights up for a short while.
Gentle massage
Switching on: Press rocker switch2
forward.
Switching off: Pull rocker switch2
backward.
Vigorous massage
Switching on: Press rocker switch3
forward.
Switching off: Pull rocker switch3
backward.
Position of backrest curvature
Moving upward: Press rocker
switch4 forward.
Moving downward: Pull rocker
switch4 backward.Lumbar region support
Selecting greater curvature: Press
rocker switch5 forward.
Selecting less curvature: Pull rocker
switch5 backward.
Side bolster adjustment
Reducing width: Press rocker
switch6 forward.
Increasing width: Pull rocker
switch6 backward.
Easy-entry/exit feature
This feature allows for easier entry into and
exit from the vehicle. When entering and
exiting the vehicle, the driver’s seat is in its
maximum rearward position and the steer-
ing wheel is in its uppermost position.
The easy-entry/exit feature can be activat-
ed or deactivated in the “Vehicle” menu of
the COMAND system (
page 246).
Warning!G
You must make sure no one can become
trapped or injured by the moving steering
wheel and driver’s seat when the easy-en-
try/exit feature is activated.
To stop seat/steering wheel movement, do
one of the following:

Press seat adjustment switch
(
page 348).

Move steering wheel adjustment stalk
(
page 359).

Press one of the memory position but-
tons or the memory buttonM
(
page 366).
Do not leave children unattended in the ve-
hicle, or with access to an unlocked vehicle.
Children could open the driver’s door and
unintentionally activate the easy-entry/exit
feature, which could result in an accident
and/or serious personal injury.

358 Controls in detail
Seats
With the easy-entry/exit feature activated,
the steering wheel and driver’s seat will re-
turn to their last set memory position 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 346) once
with the driver’s door closedWith the easy-entry/exit feature activated
the steering wheel tilts upwards and the
driver’s seat moves a few inches to the
rear when you:

remove the SmartKey from the starter
switch,
or

open the driver’s door with the
SmartKey in starter switch position0
or1 or the KEYLESS-GO* start/stop
button (
page 346) in position1
!Do not activate the easy-entry/exit feature
if the seat backrest is in an excessively reclined
position. Doing so could cause damage to front
or rear seats.
First move the seat backrest to an upright posi-
tion.
iFor safety reasons, the driver’s seat will not
return to its last set position with the easy-en-
try/exit feature activated if the system recogniz-
es the last set position as an extreme forward
position. Instead, the driver’s seat will remain at
or move to a factory-set maximum forward posi-
tion. To again fully return the driver’s seat toyour last set position or to memory position, ad-
just the seat to the desired position or press and
hold the respective memory position button
(
page 366).
iThe last set driver’s seat and steering wheel
positions are stored when

the ignition is switched off (page 344)

the position is stored in memory
(
page 365)
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 system recognizes the
current seat position to be rearward enough for
easy entry and exit, the driver’s seat will not
move to the rear when the easy-entry/ exit fea-
ture is activated.
The adjustment procedure is briefly interrupted
when the engine is started.
Warning!G
Let the system complete the adjustment
procedure before setting the vehicle in mo-
tion. All driver’s seat and steering wheel ad-
justments must be completed before setting
the vehicle in motion. Driving off with the
driver’s seat/steering wheel still adjusting
could cause the driver to lose control of the
vehicle.