168 Airbag system
How knee airbags work
Applies to vehicles: with knee airbags
The risk of injury to the leg area can be re
duced by fully inflated knee airbags.
Fig. 166 Inflated airbags protecting in a frontal colli·
s io n
The knee airbag system has been designed so
that the a irbags for the driver and front pas
senger deploy in certain but not all frontal
coll isions.
If the front airbags deploy, the knee airbags
a lso deploy in frontal collisions when the de
ployment threshold stored in the control unit
is met .
When the system deploys, the airbags fill
with a propellant gas, and inflate between the
lower part of the instrument panel and the
driver and the lower part of the instrument
panel and the front passenger
Q page 159,
fig . 163.
Although they are not a soft pillow, they can
"cush ion" the impact and in this way they can
help to reduce the risk of injury to the lower
extremities.
All of this takes place in the blink of an eye, so
fast that many people don 't even realize that
the airbags have deployed . The airbags also
inflate with a great deal of force and it is im
portant for occupant safety that noth ing
should be in their way when they deploy.
Fully inflated airbags in combination with
properly worn safety belts slow down and lim
it the occupant's forward movement and help
to reduce the risk of injury. Important safety instructions on the
knee airbag system
Applies
to vehicles: with knee airbags
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. Al
ways wear safety belts correctly and ride in a
proper seating position .
There is a lot that you and your passengers
must know and do to help the safety belts and
airbags to provide supplementa l protect ion.
A WARNING
-An inflating knee airbag can cause serious
i n jury. Wearing safety belts incorrectly and
improper seat ing positions increase the
risk of serious personal injury and death
whenever a vehicle is being used.
- The knee airbag system cannot protect
you properly if you are seated too close
to any of the airbag locations. When ad
justing their seat pos itions, it is impor
tant that both the driver and the front passenger keep the ir upper bodies and
knees at the following m inimum safe
distances :
- at least 10 inches (25 cm) between the
chest and the steering wheel/instru
ment panel.
- at least 4 inches (10 cm) between the knees and the lower part of the instru
ment panel.
- The risk of personal injury increases if
you lean forward or to the side, or if the
seat is improperly positioned and you are
not wearing your safety belt . The risk in
creases even more should the airbag de
p loy .
- Always make sure that the knee airbag
can inflate without interference. Objects
between you and the airbag can increase
the risk of inju ry in an accident by inter
fering w ith the way the airbag deploys or
by being pushed into you as the airbag
deploys.
- Never let anybody, espec ially children
or animals ride in the footwell in front
-Always read and heed all WARNINGS
whenever using a child restraint in ave
hicle
¢ page 140, Safety belts,
¢ page 149, Airbag system and
¢ page 175, Important things to
know.
(D Tips
Always replace child restraints that were
installed in a vehicle during a crash. Dam
age to a child restraint that is not visible
could cause it to fail in another collision
situation.
Advanced front airbag system and children
Your vehicle is equipped with a front "Ad
vanced Airbag System" in compliance with United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard (FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the
time your vehicle was manufactured .
T he Advanced Airbag system in your vehicle
has been certified to meet the "low-risk" re
quirements for 3-and 6-year old children on
the passenger side and small adults on the
driver side. The low risk deployment criteria
are intended to reduce the risk of injury
through interaction with the airbag that can
occur, for example , by being too close to the
steering wheel and instrument panel when
the airbag inflates . In addition, the system
has been certified to comply with the "sup
pression" requirements of the Safety Stand
ard, to turn off the front airbag for infants up
to 12 months who are restrained on the front passenger seat in child restraints that are list
ed in the Standard .
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Airbag system, all children, espe
cially those 12 years and younger, should al
ways ride in the back seat properly restrained
for their age and size. The airbag on the pas
senger side makes the front seat a potentially
dangerous place for a child to ride. The front
seat is not the safest place fo r a child in a for
ward-facing child safety seat. It can be a very
Child Safety 177
dangerous place for an infant or a larger child
in a rearward-facing seat.
The vehicle's Advanced Airbag System has a
capacitive passenger detection system in the
front passenger seat cushion that can detect
the presence of a baby or a child in a child re
straint system on this seat.
The capacitive passenger detection system
registers the changes that result in an electri
cal field when a child, a child restraint, and a
baby blanket are on the front passenger seat .
The change in the measured capacitance due
to the presence of a child, a child restraint,
and a baby blanket on the front passenger
seat is related to the child restraint system resting on the seat . The measured capacitance
of a child restraint system varies depending
on the type of system and specific make and
model.
The electrical capacitance of the various
types, makes, and models of child restraints
specified by the U.S.National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NH TSA) in the relevant
safety standard are stored in the Advanced
Airbag System control unit together with the capacitances typical of infants and a 1-year
old child. When a child restraint is used on the
front passenger seat with a typical 1 year-old infant, the Advanced Airbag System compares
the capacitance measured by the capacitive passenger detection system with the data
stored in the electronic control unit.
Child restraints and Advanced front
airbag system
Regardless of the child restraint that you use,
make sure that it has been certified to meet
United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standards and has been certified by its manu
facturer for use with an airbag. Always be sure
that the child restraint is properly installed at
one of the rear seating positions. If in excep
tional circumstances you must use it on the
front passenger seat, ca refully read all of the
information on child safety and Advanced Air-
bags and heed all of the applicable ..,.
•
•
Checking and filling Engine hood
Releasing the engine hood
The engine hood is released from inside the
vehicle .
Fig. 191 Dr iver footwell: release lever
Fig. 192 Rocker switch under the hood
Make sure the wiper arms are not raised up
from the w indshield. Otherw ise the paint
could be damaged.
.. Pull the lever under the instrument panel in
the d irect ion of the arrow
~ fig. 191.
.. Raise the hood slightly~ &-
.. Press the rocker switc h under the hood up
ward
~ fig. 192. This re leases the catch .
.. Open the hood .
A WARNING
Hot engine coo lant can burn you.
- To reduce the r isk of being burned, never
open the hood if you see or hear steam
or coolant escaping from the engine
compartment . Wait until no steam or
coolant can be seen or heard before care
fully opening the hood.
Checkin g and fillin g 22 7
Working in the engine compartment
Be especially careful whenever you work in
the engine compartment.
Wh ene ve r y ou must p erform an y wor k in the
e ng ine com pa rtm ent , for e xample checking
a nd filling diff ere nt fluids, th ere is a risk of
inju ry, burn s and accid ent s. To pr eve nt per
so nal injury alwa ys observ e the foll owing
WARNING S. The engin e compartment of an y
v e hicle i s a h az a rdou s are a
~ ,&.
h WARNING
To help avoid injury, before yo u check any
thing under the hood:
- Turn off the engine.
- Sw itch off the ignition.
- Apply the parki ng brake.
- Move selector leve r to P (Park).
- Always let the engine cool down. Hot
components w ill burn skin on contact .
- To reduce the risk of being burned, never
open the hood if you see or hear steam
or coo la nt escaping from the engine
compa rtment. Wait unt il no steam or
coolant can be seen o r heard before care
fu lly opening the hood.
- Keep ch ildren away from the engine com
pa rtment.
- Never sp ill fluids on hot engine compo
nents . They can cause a fire .
- Never touch the rad iator fan. The auxili
ary electric fan is temperat ure controlled
a nd can sw itch on suddenly .
- Never open the coolant reservoir cap
when the engine is still warm. The cool
a nt system is p ressu rized and hot cool
a nt cou ld spray o ut.
- Protect your face, hands and arm from
steam or hot engine coolant by plac ing a
thick rag ove r the cap when you open the
coo lant rese rvoir.
- Do not remove the engine cover under
any circumstances. This inc reases the
ris k of burns.
- If work on the fue l system o r the elec tri
cal system is necessary:
No. Equ ipment Amps
4 Suspension control system sen-s sor
s
E
lectronic Stabilization Cont rol
s (ESC) module
6 Climate control
s
7 Adaptive cruise control
10
8
Airbag control module, front
s passenger's seat sensor system
9 Gateway
s
Homelink (garage door opener),
10 night vis ion system cont ro l
s
module
11 Image
processing (active lane
10
ass ist, adaptive cruise control)
12 Dynamic steering
s
13 Terminal 15 in
the instrument
15
panel
14 Terminal 15
in the luggage com-
partment 30
15 Terminal 15
(engine)
15
16 Starter 40
Fu se pa nel ® (b rown )
No . Equipment Amps
1 Gateway s
2 C
limate control 10
3 E
lectronic Stabili zation Control
10
(ESC) module
4 Fron
t door (driver 's side)
30
s
Power seat adjustment (driver's
7,5
seat)
6 Dynam
ic steering
35
7 Sunroof 20
8
Rear door control module (driv-
15
er 's side)
9 Lumbar support (
Front passen-
s ger seat)
10 Tire pressure
monitoring system
s
11 Su
nroof, rear spoi ler (Sportba ck)
20
12 Driver
door control module
15
Fuse s and bulb s 2 7 3
Fuse pan el© (r e d )
No . Equipment
2 Fuel pump
3 Brake light
sensor/brake pedal
sensor system
AdBlue control module (Diesel)/
4 Engine acoust ics
s Left rear door cont rol modu le
6 Power seat adjustment
(pas-
senge r's seat)
7 Horn
8 Windshield wiper motor
9 Light/rain sensor, heater
for vid-
eo camera in windscreen
10 Lumba r support (driver seat)
11 Front
passenger door control
modu le
12 Right rea r door cont rol modu le
Front passenger side cockpit fuse
assignment Amp
s
25
S/S
S/7,S 30
7,5 15
30
s
s
15
15
F ig . 22 0 Front passenger side cockpit: fuse pa nel w it h
plast ic brac ket
Fuse panel @ (bla ck)
No . Equipment Amps
1 Head-up
Display s
2 MMI Display s
3 CD/DVD changer s
4 MMI unit/drives 7,5
s
Chip card reader (not in all coun-
s tries)
6 Instrument
cluster
s
7 Steering column switch module s ...