2008 MERCEDES-BENZ SL ROADSTER brake

Driving sys
tems 128 Distroni
cdoesn ot react to:
R pedestrians
R stationar yobstacle sont he road, e.g .sta-
tionar yorparked vehicles
R oncoming and crossing traffic
Distroni cmaynot detect narrow vehicles
driving in front, e.g .motorcycles, or vehi-
cle sd riving on adifferen tline. Therefore,
always pa yattentio ntotrafficconditions
eve nw henD istroni cisa ctivated. Other-
wise ,you mayfailtor ecognis edangers in
time, could caus eanaccident and injure
yourself and others.
If as lowe r-moving vehicl eisdetecte dinf ront,
Distroni ccauses your vehicl etobrake and
maintain aprese tdistance to the vehicl ein
front. G
Ris
kofa ccident
Distroni ccannot take account of roa dand
traffi cconditions .Deactivate ,ordonot
activate ,Distroni cifitd oesn ot detect the
vehicl einfront, or if it no longe rdetects it.
This is especiall ythe case:
R befor ecorners
R on filte rlan es R
when changing to alan ew ithf asterm ov-
ing traffic
R in complex driving situations or where
the lanes ar ediverted ,e.g.atr oadworks
on am otorway.
Otherwise, Distroni cmaintains the current
spee dora ccelerates up to the se tspeed.
Distroni ccannot take account of weather
conditions .Deactivate ,ordonot activate,
Distronic:
R if the roads ar eslippery, snow-covered or
icy .The wheels could lose their grip
under braking or acceleration. Th evehi-
cle could start to skid.
R if the sensors ar edirty or there is poor
visibility, e.g .due to snow, rain or fog.
Distanc econtrol ma ybeimpaired.
Alway spayattentio ntotrafficconditions
eve nw henD istroni cisa ctivated. Other-
wise ,you mayfailtor ecognis edangers in
time, could caus eanaccident and injure
yourself and others.
If there is no vehicl einfront, Distroni coper-
ate sint he same wa yascruisecontrol .Dis-
troni cfun ctions in the 30 km/h to
180 km/h range. G
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kofa ccident
Distroni cbrakes your vehicl eatamaximum
of 2m /s2
,d epen ding on its speed. This
corresponds to approximately 20% of your
vehicle' smaximum braking power. You
must also appl ythe brakes yourself if this
braking powe risnot sufficient.
If Distroni cdetects ariskofc ollision with a
vehicl einfront, an intermittent warning
tone sounds. Additionally, the EDTR
warning lamp in the speedomete rlight sup
red .Brake to avoi dacollision.
Cruis econtro llever With the cruis
econtrol lever yo ucan operate
Distroni cand variable Speedtronic.
Th eL IM indicator lamp on the cruis econtrol
lever indicates which syste myouhave selec-
ted:
R LIM indicator lamp off:
Distroni ciss elect ed
R LIM indicator lamp lit:
variable Speedtroni ciss elect ed Controls
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Driving sys
tems 1291
To store the current spee dorahigher
speed
2 LIM indicator lamp
3 To select the current or last store dspeed
4 To store the current spee doralower
speed
5 To switc hbetween Distronicand variable
Speedtronic
6 Deactivatin gDistronic
Sele ctingD istronic X
Check whether LIM indicator lamp 2is off.
If it is off, Distroni cisa lready selected.
If it is not, pres sthe cruis econtro llever in
the direction of arrow 5.
LIM indicator lamp 2in the cruis econtrol
leve rgoeso ut.D istroni ciss elec ted. Switching on
Distronic,storingand
maintainin gthe current speed If Distroni
cisn ot activated after the cruise
contro llever is pressed, youw ills ee the mes-
sage DTR- --km/h in the multi-function
displa y.
Yo uc anno tactivat eDistroni cinthe following
circumstances:
R ifyo ua redrivin gslowe rtha n3 0km/ hor
faster than 180 km/h
R when braking
R when yo uhavea pplied the parking brake
R if ESP ®
is deactivated
R when the selector lever is in position P,R
or N
R for two minutes afte rthe engine is started
X Accelerate the vehicle to the desired
speed.
X Briefly press the cruise control lever up
1 or down 4.
X Remove your foot from the accelerator
pedal.
Distronic is activated .The vehicle main-
tains the store dspeed until the distance to
the vehicle in front becomes too small. i
If yo udon ot fully release the accelerator
pedal ,the DTR passive messageappears
in the multi-function display. The distance
to as lower-moving vehicle in front will then
not be preset. You will be driving at the
speed yo udetermine with the accelerator
pedal.
Setting aspeed X
Pres sthe cruise control lever up 1for a
higher speed or down 4for alower speed.
X Kee pthe cruise control lever presse duntil
the desire dspeed is reached.
X Release the cruise control lever.
The new speed is stored.
i Deceleration of the vehicle by means of
the cruise control lever is assiste dbyauto-
mati capplicatio nofthe brakes.
On long downhil lgradients, the automatic
transmission also shifts down. Controls
230_AKB; 5; 4, en-GB
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Driving sys
tems 131
Adjusting the se
tdistance
X To increase: turnthumbwheel 2towards
the ¯ symbol.
Distroni cthe nm aintains agreate rdistance
between your vehicl eand the vehicl ein
front.
X To decrease: turnthumbwheel 2towards
the ® symbol.
Distroni cthe nm aintains ashorter distance
between your vehicl eand the vehicl ein
front.
i Make sure tha tyou maintain the mini-
mu md istance to the vehicl einfront
required by law. Adjust the distance to the
vehicl einfront if necessary.
Distance warning function Even if Distroni
cisd eact ivated, thi sfun ction
warns yo uatspeedsabove 30 km/h if:
R the distance to the vehicl einfront is too
short for the spee dyou ared riving at for
several seconds. The EDTR warning
lamp in the speedomete rlight supinr ed.
R yo ua reapproaching avehicl einfront at too
great aspeed .You the nhearani ntermit-
tent warning tone ,and the EDTR warn- ing lamp in the speedomete
rlight supin
red.
Yo um usta pply the brakes yourself in order
to maintain the correc tdistance to the vehicle
and to avoi dacollision. G
Ris
kofa ccident
Be especiall yobser vant of traffi ccondi-
tions when the EDTR warning lamp in
the speedomete rlight suporani ntermit-
tent warning tone sounds.
Brake or take evasive actio nasnecessary.
i Distroni cdoesn ot always clearly recog-
nis ec omplex roa dand traffi cconditions.
Yo um aythe nreceive afalse distance warn-
ing tone or none at all.
X To activate/deactivate: press button1.
When the functio nisa ctivated, the indica-
tor lamp in button 1lights up and aloud-
speaker symbo lappears in the display.
When the functio nisd eact ivated, the indi-
cator lamp in button 1goes ou tand the
loudspeaker symbo ldisappear sfromt he
multi-functio ndisplay. Distroni
cdisplays in the speedometer 1
White/red EDTR warning lamp
2 Stored speed
i For design reasons, the spee ddisplayed
in the speedomete rmaydiffe rsligh tlyf rom
the spee dsetfor Distronic.
When Distroni cdetects avehicl eahead ,the
E DTR warning lamp in the speedometer
lights up in white. Controls
230_AKB; 5; 4, en-GB
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Driving sys
tems 132
Distroni
cmenui nt he on-board com-
puter Yo
uc an rea dthe current Distronicsettings
in the Distroni cmenu. Th ereading in the
multi-functio ndisplay depends on if Distronic
and the distance warning functio nareactiva-
ted or deactivated.
X Press the èorÿ button repeatedly
unti lone of the following two displays
appear sinthe multi-functio ndisplay.
Distroni cdeactivated
When Distroni cisd eact ivate dyou will se ethe
standard Distroni cdisplay in the multi-func-
tio nd isplay. 1
Vehicle in front, if detected
2 Distanc eindicator, displaying current dis-
tanc etot he vehicl einfront
3 Specifie dminimum distance to the vehi-
cle in front, adjustable
4 Ownvehicle 5
Symbo lfor activate ddistance warning
function
Distroni cactivated
When yo uactivate Distronic, yo uwills ee the
DTR symbo land the stored spee dinthe left-
hand multi-functio ndisplay. 1
Display for activate dDistronic
2 Stored speed Deactivating Distronic 1
Deactivating Distronic
2 LIM indicator lamp
3 To switch between Distroni cand variable
Speedtronic
There ar eseveral ways to deactivate Dis-
tronic:
X Briefl ypress the cruis econtrol lever for-
wards 1.
or
X Brake.
or Controls
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Driving sys
tems 133
X
Briefl ypress the cruis econtrol lever in the
directio nofarrow 3.
Variable Speedtroni ciss elect ed.LIM indi-
cator lamp 2in the cruis econtrol lever
lights up.
i Youw ills ee the DTR off message in the
multi-functio ndisplay for approximately
five seconds.
Th elasts peed stored is cleared when you
switch off the engine.
i Distroni cisn ot deactivate difyoudepress
the accelerator pedal. If yo uaccelerate
briefl ytoo vertake, Distroni cadjusts the
vehicle' sspeed to the last spee dstored
after yo uhavef inishe dovertaking.
Distroni cisa utomaticall ydeact ivate dif:
R yo ud epress the parking brake
R yo ua redriving at less tha n30km/h
R ESP ®
is intervening or yo udeact ivate
ESP ®
R yo um ovet he selector lever to Nwhil edriv-
ing
If Distroni cisd eact ivated, yo uwillh eara
warning tone .You will se ethe DTR off mes-sage in the multi-functio
ndisplay for approx-
imately five seconds.
Tips fo rdrivin gwithD istronic Th
efollowing contains descriptions of certain
roa dand traffi cconditions in which yo umust
be particularl yattentive. In such situations,
brake if necessary .Distroni cist hend eact i-
vated.
Cornering, goin gintoa nd comin goutof a
bend Th
ea bility of Distroni ctodetect vehicles
when cornering is limited .Yourv ehicl emay
brake unexpectedly or belatedly. Vehicle
stravellin gonad ifferentline Distroni
cmaynot detect vehicles travelling
on adifferen tline. Th edistance to the vehicle
in front will be too short.
Othe rvehicles changin glane Controls
230_AKB; 5; 4, en-GB
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Driving sys
tems 134
Distroni
chasnot ye tdetecte dthe vehicle
cutting in. Th edistance to thi svehicl ewillbe
too short.
Narro wvehicles Distroni
chasnot yetd etected the vehicl ein
front on the edge of the carriageway ,because
of its relativel ynarro ww idth .T he distance to
the vehicl einfront will be too short. Speedtronic
Speedtroni cbrake sautomatically so tha tyou
do not excee dthe se tspeed .Onl onga nd
steep downhill gradients, especially if the
vehicl eisladen ,you must select shif tran ge
1, 2or 3in good time. By doin gsoyou will
make useoft he brakin geffec toft he engine,
whic hrelieve sthe load on the brak esystem
an dp reve ntst he brakes fro moverheating
an dw earing too quickly .Ifyou nee daddi-
tiona lbraking ,depress the brak epedal
repeatedly rathe rtha nc ontin uously. G
Risk of ac
cident
Neve rdepress the brak epedal contin u-
ousl ywhile the vehicl eisinmotion, e.g.
never ca uset he brakes to ru bbyapplying
constant slight peda lpressure. This causes
the brak esystemtoo verheat, increases
the brakin gdistance an dcan lead to the
brakes failin gcompletely. G
Risk of ac
cident
Do not change down fo raddit iona lengine
brakin gonas lipperyroads urface .This
could ca uset he driv ewheel stol oset heir
grip an dthe vehicl ecould skid. Yo
uc an setav ariabl eorp ermanen tlimit
speed:
R Variable fors peed limits, e.g .inbuilt-up
areas
R Permanent forl on g-ter mspeed restric-
tions, e.g .for drivin gwithw inte rt yres
( Y page 136) G
Risk of ac
cident
Speedtroni ciso nlyana iddesigne dto
assist driving. Yo uareresponsible fo rthe
vehicle' sspeed andf or brakin gingood
time.
i Thes peed indicated in the speedometer
ma ydiffe rs ligh tlyf romt he limi tspeed
stored.
Variable Speedtronic With the cruis
econtro llever ,you ca noperate
cruis econtrol, Distronic* an dvariable
Speedtronic.
Th eL IM indicator lamp on the cruis econtrol
leve rindicat es whic hsystemy ou have selec-
ted:
R LIM indicator lamp off: Con
trols
*optional
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Driving sys
tems 137
Permanent Speedtroni
cisd eact ivated.
R Al imit spee dbetween 240 km/h and
160 km/h in increments of 10 km/h
X To select adifferen tdisplay ,press the
j, èorÿ button. SBC Hold
SBC ®
Hol dassis ts the driver in the following
situations:
R when pulling away ,especially on steep
slopes
R when manoeuvring on steep slopes
R when waiting in traffic
Th ev ehicl eisk epts tationar ywithout the
driver having to depress the brake pedal.
Th eb raking effect is cancelle dand SBC Hold
deactivate dwheny ou depress the accelera-
tor peda ltopulla way.
Activation conditions Yo
uc an activate SBC Hol dif:
R the vehicl eisstationary
R the engine is running
R the driver's door is closed R
the parking brake is not applied
R the bonnet is closed
R the selector lever is in position D,Ror N
Activating SBC Hold X
Make sure tha tthe activation conditions
ar em et.
X Depres sthe brake.
X Depres sthe brake agai nquickl yu ntil
SBC H appear sinthe multi-functio ndis-
play.
SBC Hol disactivated. Yo ucan release the
brake pedal. 1
SBC Hol disactivated. G
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kofa ccident
Th ev ehicle' sbrakes ar eapplied when SBC
Hol disa ctivated. For thi sreason, deacti-
vate SBC Hol difthe vehicl eistobes etin
motion by other means (e.g. in acarwash
or by towing).
Deactivating SBC Hold SBC Hol
disdeactivate dif:
R yo ua ccelerate when the selector lever is in
position Dor R
R yo um ovet he selector lever to position P
R yo ua pply the brakes agai nwithac ertain
amount of pressure unti lthe SBC H mes-
sage in the multi-functio ndisplay goes out G
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kofa ccident
Never ge toutof the vehicl ewhenS BC Hold
is activated.
SBC Hol dmustn eve rbeo perated or deac-
tivate dbyapassenge rorfromo utside the
vehicle.
SBC Hol ddoesn ot replace the parking
brake and must not be used for parking.
Th eS BC Hol dbraking effect is cancelled
and the vehicl ecould rol lawa yif: Controls
230_AKB; 5; 4, en-GB
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Driving sys
tems 138 R
SBC Hol disdeactivate dbyano ccupant
in the vehicl ebydepressing the acceler-
ato rpedal or the brake pedal
R there is amalfu nctio ninthe syste moran
interruption in the powe rsupply, e.g.bat-
tery failure
R the electrica lsystemint he engine com-
partment or the fuse shaveb eent am-
pered with
R the battery is disconnected G
Ris
kofa ccident
If yo uwishtol eave the vehicl eorparki t,
deactivate SBC Hol dand secure the vehicle
against rolling away.
Yo uw ills ee aw arning message in the multi-
functio ndisplay if SBC Hol disactivate dand:
R the driver's door is opene dand yo urelease
the seat belt
R the ignition is switched off
R the bonnet is opened
Selector lever to P X
Immediatel ydepress the brake or shift the
selector lever to Pto preven tthe vehicle
fro mr olling away.
SBC Hol disdeactivated. Th ewarning mes-
sage in the multi-functio ndisplay disap-
pears.
Yo uw illh ea rac ontinuous tone if SBC Hol dis
activate dand you:
R sto pthe engine and open the driver's door
R open the bonnet
Th es ounding of the horn alerts yo utothe fact
tha tthe vehicl ehasbeen parked while
SBC Hol disstill activated. Th esound
becomes louder if yo uattempt to lock the
vehicle. Th evehicl eisn ot locked unti lSBC
HOL Disd eact ivated.
i If the ignition ha sbeens witched off ,the
engine cannot be started agai nuntil
SBC Hol dhasbeen deactivated.
If SBC Hol disactivate dand ha sasystemf ault
or there is adisruption in the powe rsupply,
the multi-functio ndisplay shows the message
Brake immediately.D epressthe brake
firmly, unti lthe warning message in the multi-
functio ndisplay goes out, or mov ethe selec-
tor lever to position P.Thisd eact ivates
SBC Hold. RACE START (S
L63AMG)
RAC ESTAR Tenables optimal acceleration
fro mas tanding start with suitabl ehigh- grip
roa dsurface conditions. G
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kofa ccident
RAC ESTAR Tiso nlya vailable when ESP ®
Sports mod eisactivated. ESP ®
Sport sta-
bilise sthe vehicl einalimited manner if the
vehicl estarts to ski dorwhenaw heelis
spinning.
RAC ESTAR Tshoul donlybeu sedonc losed
off circuits .Alway sadapt your driving style
to suit the prevailing roa dand weather con-
ditions.
Conditions fo ractivation RAC
ESTAR Tcan be activate dwhen
R the doors ar eclosed
R the engine is running and it ha sreache dan
operating temperatur eofapproximately
80 †. This is the case when the engine oil
temperatur elam pint he multi-functio ndis-
play stops flashing
R ESP ®
Sport is activate d(Ypage 56)
R the steering whee lisinthe straight-ahead
position Controls
230_AKB; 5; 4, en-GB
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