Driving and operating179
The selected following distance is
indicated by filled distance bars on
the adaptive cruise control page.
Note that the following distance
setting is shared with the sensitivity
setting of forward collision alert.
Example: If setting 3 (far) is selected,
then the driver is warned sooner
before a possible collision, also if
adaptive cruise control is inactive or
switched off.
9 Warning
The driver accepts full
responsibility for the appropriate
following distance based on traffic, weather and visibility conditions.
Following distance must be
adjusted or the system switched
off when required by the prevailing
conditions.
Detecting the vehicle ahead
The green illuminated "vehicle
ahead" control indicator A is
displayed in the speedometer when the system detects a vehicle in the
driving path.
If this symbol does not display, or
displays briefly, adaptive cruise
control will not respond to vehicles
ahead.
Deactivation
Adaptive cruise control is deactivated by the driver when:
■ button y is pressed,
■ brake pedal is applied,
■ clutch pedal is depressed for more than four seconds,
■ gear selector lever of automatic transmission is moved to N.
The system is also automatically
deactivated when:
■ vehicle speed slows down below 28 mph or accelerates above
120 mph,
■ Traction Control system is operating for more than
20 seconds,
Driving and operating181
So if a new vehicle is detected, the
system may accelerate instead of
braking.
■ Adaptive cruise control does ignore
the oncoming traffic.
■ Adaptive cruise control does not brake for stopped vehicles,
pedestrians or animals.
Bends
The adaptive cruise control calculates
a predicted path based on the
centrifugal force. This predicted path
considers the current bend
characteristic, but cannot consider a
future bend change. The system may lose the current vehicle ahead or
consider a vehicle which is not in the
actual lane. This can happen when
entering or exiting a bend or if the
bend gets stronger or weaker. If it no
longer detects any vehicle ahead,
then control indicator A will
extinguish.
If the centrifugal force is too high in a bend, the system slows down the vehicle slightly. This braking level is
not designed to avoid spinning off the bend. The driver is responsible for
reducing the selected speed before
entering a bend and in general to
adapt the speed to the road type and
to existing speed limits.
Motorways
On motorways, adapt the set speed
to the situation and the weather.
Always consider that adaptive cruise
control has a limited visibility range, a
limited braking level and a certain
reaction time to verify if a vehicle is in
the driving path or not. Adaptive
cruise control may not be able to
brake the vehicle in time to avoid a
collision with a much slower vehicle or after a lane change. This is
particularly true if driving fast or if the
visibility is reduced due to weather
conditions.
While entering or exiting a motorway,
adaptive cruise control may lose the
vehicle ahead and accelerate up to
the set speed. For this reason,
decrease the set speed before the
exit or before the entry.
Vehicle path changes
If another vehicle enters your driving
path, adaptive cruise control will first
consider the vehicle when it is
completely in your path. Be ready to
take action and depress the brake
pedal, if you need to brake more
quickly.
182Driving and operating
Hill and trailer considerations
System performance on hills and
when towing a trailer depends on
vehicle speed, vehicle load, traffic
conditions and the road gradient. It
may not detect a vehicle in your path
while driving on hills. On steep hills,
you may have to use the accelerator
pedal to maintain your vehicle speed.
When going downhill, especially
when towing a trailer, you may have
to brake to maintain or reduce your
speed.
Note that applying the brake
deactivates the system. It is not
recommended to use adaptive cruise
control on steep hills especially when towing a trailer.
Radar unit
The radar unit is mounted behind the
radiator grille below the brand
emblem.
9 Warning
The radar unit was aligned
carefully during manufacture.
Therefore, after a frontal accident, do not use the system. The front
bumper may appear to be intact,
however the sensor behind can be
out of position and react
incorrectly. After an accident,
consult a workshop to verify and
correct the adaptive cruise control
sensor position.
Settings
Settings can be changed in the Auto
collision preparation menu in the
vehicle personalisation 3 127.
Fault
If the adaptive cruise control does not
work due to temporary conditions
(e.g. blockage by ice) or if there is a
permanent system error, then a
message is displayed in the Driver
Information Centre.
186Driving and operating
Deactivation
The system can be deactivated.
Press button V repeatedly until the
following message appears in the
Driver Information Centre.
General information for both
variants of forward collision alert
9 Warning
Forward collision alert is just a
warning system and does not
apply the brakes. When
approaching a vehicle ahead too
rapidly, it may not provide you
enough time to avoid a collision.
The driver accepts full
responsibility for the appropriate
following distance based on traffic, weather and visibility conditions.
The complete attention of the
driver is always required while
driving. The driver must always be
ready to take action and apply the
brakes.
System limitations
The system is designed to warn only for vehicles, but may react also onother metallic objects.
In the following cases, forward
collision alert may not detect a vehicle ahead or sensor performance is
limited:
■ on winding roads,
■ when weather limits visibility, such as fog, rain, or snow,
■ when the sensor is blocked by snow, ice, slush, mud, dirt, or
windscreen damage.
Following distance
indication
The following distance indication
displays the distance to a preceding
moving vehicle. The system uses,
depending on the vehicle equipment,
either the radar behind the radiator
grille or the front camera in the
windscreen to detect the distance of
a vehicle directly ahead in your lane.
It is active at speeds above 25 mph.
When a preceding vehicle is detected
ahead, the distance is indicated in
seconds, displayed on a page in the
Driver Information Centre 3 114.
Press the MENU button on the turn
signal lever to select Vehicle
Information Menu X and turn the
adjuster wheel to choose following
distance indication page.
Driving and operating187
The minimum indicated distance is
0.5 s.
If there is no vehicle ahead or the vehicle ahead is out of range, two
dashes will be displayed: -.- s.
Active Emergency Braking
Active emergency braking can help to reduce the damage from crashes with vehicles and obstacles directly
ahead, when a collision can no longer be avoided either by manual braking
or by steering. Before the active
emergency braking applies, the driver
is warned by the forward collision
alert 3 183.
The feature uses various inputs (e.g.
radar sensor, brake pressure, vehicle speed) to calculate the probability of
a frontal collision.
Active emergency braking operates automatically above walking speed,
provided that Auto collision
preparation setting is not deactivated
in the vehicle personalisation menu
3 127.
The system includes: ■ Brake preparation system
■ Emergency automatic braking
■ Forward looking brake assist9 Warning
This system is not intended to
replace the driver responsibility of driving the vehicle and looking
ahead. Its function is limited to
supplemental use only. The driver
shall continue to apply the brake
pedal as the driving situation
dictates.
Brake preparation system
When approaching a vehicle ahead
so quickly that a collision is likely, the brake preparation system slightly
pressurises the brakes. This reduces
the response time, when a manual or automatic braking is requested.
The brake system is prepared so that braking can occur more rapidly.
Emergency automatic braking After the brake preparation and just
before the imminent collision, this
function automatically applies limited
braking to reduce the impact speed of
the collision.
Forward looking brake assist
In addition to brake preparation
system and emergency automatic
braking, the forward looking brake
assist function makes the brake assist more sensitive. In this way,
depressing the brake pedal slightly
Driving and operating189Parking assist9Warning
The driver bears full responsibility
for the parking manoeuvre.
Always check the surrounding
area when driving backwards or
forwards while using parking
assist system.
The front-rear parking assist
measures the distance between the
vehicle and obstacles in front and
behind the vehicle. The system gives acoustic signals and display
messages.
The system has four ultrasonic
parking sensors each in the rear and
front bumper.
It uses two different acoustic warning
signals for the front and rear
monitoring areas, each with a
different tone frequency.
Control indicator r 3 110.
Button D
Parking assist is activated and
deactivated by pressing the parking
assist button D. If the vehicle is
equipped with parking assist and
advanced parking assist 3 191 both
use the same button to operate the
systems.
For activating or deactivating parking
assist, press button D once briefly.
For activating or deactivating
advanced parking assist, press
button D for approx. one second.
If one system is active, it is possible
to switch between both systems by
pressing the button shorter or longer.Activation
When reverse gear is engaged, the
system is activated automatically.
The front parking assist can also be activated at a low speed by pressing
the parking assist button D briefly.
An illuminated LED in the parking
assist button indicates that the
system is ready to operate.
Indication The system warns the driver withacoustic signals against obstacles in
front of or behind the vehicle.
Depending on which of the sensors
190Driving and operating
are closer to an obstacle, you will heara buzzing sound of the respective
sensors. The interval between the
sounds becomes shorter as the
vehicle gets closer to the obstacle.
When the distance is less than
30 cm, the buzzing is continuous.
Additionally, the distance to obstacles can be shown in the Driver
Information Centre (DIC) 3 114.
On version with Uplevel-Display, the
distance to a front obstacle is
indicated by changing segments.
On version with Uplevel-Combi-
Display, the distance to a front and
rear obstacle is indicated by changing distance lines around the vehicle.
The distance indication in the display
can be inhibited and overwritten by
vehicle messages with a higher
priority. Once the distance indication
is overwritten by a vehicle message,
distance is no longer indicated until
parking assist is activated again.
Deactivation
Deactivate the system by pressing
the parking assist button D briefly.
The LED in the button extinguishes
and Park Assist Off will be displayed
in the Driver Information Centre
(DIC).
The system is deactivated
automatically when exceeding a
certain speed.
If button D is pressed once within an
ignition cycle, the front parking assist
is always reactivated when the
vehicle speed goes below a certain
value.
Fault
In the event of a fault in the system,
r illuminates or a message is
displayed in the Driver Information
Centre (DIC).
If the system does not work due to temporary conditions like snow
covered sensors, r illuminates or a
message is displayed in the Driver
Information Centre (DIC).
Vehicle messages 3 120.
Driving and operating1919Warning
Under certain circumstances,
various reflective surfaces on
objects or clothing as well as
external noise sources may cause the system to fail to detect
obstacles.
Special attention has to be paid to
low obstacles which can damage
the lower part of the bumper.
Caution
Performance of the sensor can be reduced when sensors are
covered, e.g. by ice or snow.
Performance of the parking assist
system can be reduced due to
heavy loading.
Special conditions apply if there
are taller vehicles involved (e.g.
off-road vehicles, mini vans,
vans). Object identification in the
upper part of these vehicles
cannot be guaranteed.
Objects with a very small reflection
cross section, like objects of
narrow size or soft materials, may
not be detected by the system.
Parking assist will not detect
objects out of the detection range.
Notice
The parking assist system
automatically detects factory-fitted
towing equipment. It is deactivated
when the connector is plugged in.
The sensor may detect a non-
existing object (echo disturbance)
caused by external acoustical or
mechanic disturbances.
Notice
If engaging a forward gear and
exceeding a certain speed, the rear
parking assist will be deactivated
when the rear carrier system is
extended.
If engaging reverse at first, the
parking assist will detect the rear
carrier system and provide a buzzing
sound. Press r or D briefly to
deactivate the parking assist.
Advanced parking assist9 Warning
The driver bears full responsibility
for the parking manoeuvre.
Always check the surrounding
area when driving backwards or
forwards while using parking
assist system.
The advanced parking assist system manoeuvres the driver into a parking
slot by giving instructions on the
Driver Information Centre and
acoustic signals.