Problems with the Occupant Classification System
ProblemPossible causes/consequences and M Solutions
The PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF indicator
lights up and remains
on.
The person on the
front-passenger seat: R
has the weight of a
typical adult
R has been determined
by the system not to
be a childThe OCS is malfunctioning.
X Make sure that the front passenger is sitting in a correct, upright
position.
X Have the OCS checked as soon as possible at a qualified spe-
cialist workshop.
X Observe the additional display messages in the multifunction
display ( Y page 242).
GWARNING
If the 45 indicator lamp illuminates and remains illuminated w hen the weight of a typical
adult or someone larger than a small individual has been detected on the passenger seat, do not
allow any occupant to use the passenger seat until the system has been rep aired.
ProblemPossible causes/consequences and M Solutions
The PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF indicator
lamp does not light up
and/or stays on.
The front-passenger
seat is:
R unoccupied
R occupied with a
weight up to that of a
typical twelve-
month-old child in a
standard child
restraint systemThe OCS is malfunctioning.
X Make sure there is nothing between the seat cushion and the
child seat.
X Make sure that the backrest and base of the child restraint sys-
tem are resting securely on the front-passenger seat. If neces-
sary, adjust the position of the front-passenger seat.
X When installing the child restraint system, make sure that the
seat belt is tight. Do not pull the seat belt tight with the front-
passenger seat adjustment. This could result in the seat belt
being pulled too tightly.
X Check the installation of the child restraint system.
X Make sure that no objects are applying additional weight onto
the seat.
X If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF indicator lamp remains of f, have
the OCS system checked as soon as possible at a qualified spe-
cialist workshop. Do not transport a child on the front-p assenger
seat until the OCS has been repaired.
X Observe the additional display messages in the multifunction
display ( Y page 242).
Occupant safety53
Safety
Z
GWARNING
If the 45 indicator lamp does not illuminate or remains out wi th the weight of a typical 12-
month-old child in a standard child restraint or less, or is unoccupied, on the front-passenger seat,
do not transport a child on the front-passenger seat until the system has b een repaired.
PRE-SAFE® (anticipatory occupant
protection system)
Introduction
PRE-SAFE ®
takes preemptive measures to
protect occupants in certain hazardous sit-
uations.
Important safety notes
! Make sure that there are no objects in the
footwell under or behind the seats when
moving the seats back. There is a risk that
the seats and/or the objects could be dam-
aged.
Despite your vehicle being equipped with the PRE-SAFE ®
system, the possibility of per-
sonal injuries occurring as a result of an acci-
dent cannot be eliminated.
Always adapt your driving style to suit the
prevailing road and weather conditions and
maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in
front. Drive carefully.
Function
PRE-SAFE ®
intervenes:
R in emergency braking situations, e.g. when
BAS is activated.
R in critical driving situations, e.g. when phys-
ical limits are exceeded and the vehicle
understeers or oversteers severely.
R vehicles with the Driving Assistance
package: when BAS PLUS intervenes pow-
erfully or the radar sensor system detects
an imminent danger of collision in certain
situations. If you are driving faster than approximately
20 mph (30 km/h) PRE-SAFE
®
may take the
following measures in these situations:
R the front seat belts are pre-tensioned.
R vehicles with the memory function for
the front-passenger seat: the front-
passenger seat is adjusted if it is in an
unfavorable position.
R if the vehicle skids, the side windows are
closed so that only a small gap remains.
The panorama roof with power tilt/sliding
panel is completely closed.
If the hazardous situation passes without
resulting in an accident, PRE-SAFE ®
slackens
the belt pre-tensioning. All settings made by
PRE-SAFE ®
can then be reversed.
If the seat belt pre-tensioning is not reduced: X Move the seat backrest or seat back
slightly when the vehicle is stationary.
The seat belt pre-tensioning is reduced and
the locking mechanism is released.
The seat-belt adjustment is an integral part of
the PRE-SAFE ®
convenience function. More
information about seat-belt adjustment can
be found under "Seat-belt adjustment"
( Y page 59).
NECK-PRO head restraints/NECK-
PRO luxury head restraints
GWARNING
The function of the head restraint may be
impaired if you:
R attach objects such as coat hangers to the
head restraints, for example
R use head restraint covers
54Occupant safety
Safety
Do not insert your finger between the cushion
of the head restraint and the cover. Pay par-
ticular attention while resetting the NECK-
PRO luxury head restraints. XRemove resetting tool : from the vehicle
document wallet.
X Slide resetting tool : into guide ;
between the NECK-PRO luxury head
restraint and the rear cover of the head
restraint.
X Push resetting tool : downwards until you
hear the head restraint deployment mech-
anism engage.
X Pull out resetting tool :.
X Firmly press back the NECK-PRO luxury
head restraint cushion until it engages =.
X Repeat this procedure for the second
NECK-PRO luxury head restraint.
X Put resetting tool : back into the vehicle
document wallet.
Seat belts
Important safety notes
The use of seat belts and child restraint sys-
tems is required by law in:
R all 50 states
R the U.S. territories
R the District of Columbia
R all Canadian provinces
Even where this is not required by law, all
vehicle occupants should correctly fasten
their seat belts before starting the journey.
iSee "Children in the vehicle" for further
information on infants and children travel-
ing in the vehicle as well as on child
restraint systems.
GWARNING
The seat belt does not offer the intended level of protection if you have not moved the back-
rest to an almost vertical position. When brak-
ing or in the event of an accident, you could
slide underneath the seat belt and sustain
abdomen or neck injuries, for example. This
poses an increased risk of injury or even fatal injury.
Adjust the seat properly before beginning
your journey. Always ensure that the backrest
is in an almost vertical position and that the
shoulder section of your seat belt is routed
across the center of your shoulder.
GWARNING
The seat belts may not perform their intended protective function if:
R they are damaged, modified, extremely
dirty, bleach or dyed
R the seat belt buckle is damaged or
extremely dirty
R the Emergency Tensioning Devices, belt
anchorages or inertia reels have been modi-
fied
Seat belts may sustain non-visible damage in an accident, e.g. due to glass splinters. Modi-
fied or damaged seat belts may tear or fail,
e.g. in an accident. Modified Emergency Ten-
sioning Devices could accidentally trigger or
fail to deploy when necessary. This poses an
increased risk of injury or even fatal injury.
Never modify the seat belts, Emergency Ten-
sioning Devices, belt anchorages or inertia
reels. Make sure that the seat belts are
undamaged, not worn out and clean. Follow-
ing an accident, have the seat belts checked
immediately at a qualified specialist work-
shop.
Only use seat belts that have been approved
for your vehicle by Mercedes-Benz. Any such
56Occupant safety
Safety
modifications could invalidate the vehicle's
general operating permit.
The use of seat belts and child restraint sys-
tems is required by law in:
R all 50 states
R the U.S. territories
R the District of Columbia
R all Canadian provinces
Even where this is not required by law, all
vehicle occupants should correctly fasten
their seat belts before starting the journey.
iSee "Children in the vehicle" for further
information on infants and children travel-
ing in the vehicle, as well as on child
restraint systems.
Proper use of the seat belts
GWARNING
USE SEAT BELTS PROPERLY
R Seat belts can only work when used prop-
erly. Never wear seat belts in any other way
than as described in this section, as that
could result in serious injuries in the event
of an accident.
R Each occupant should wear their seat belt
at all times, because seat belts help reduce
the likelihood of and potential severity of
injuries in accidents, including rollovers.
The integrated restraint system includes
SRS (driver front air bag, driver's side knee
bag, front-passenger front air bag, side
impact air bags, pelvis air bags, window
curtain air bags for the side windows),
Emergency Tensioning Devices, seat belt
force limiters, and front seat knee bolsters.
The system is designed to enhance the pro-
tection offered to properly belted occu-
pants in certain frontal (front air bags, driv-
er's side knee bag and ETDs) and side (side
impact air bags, window curtain air bags,
and ETDs) impacts which exceed preset
deployment thresholds and in certain roll-
overs (window curtain air bags and ETDs).
R Never wear the shoulder belt under your
arm, across your neck or off your shoulder.
In a frontal crash, your body would move
too far forward. That would increase the
chance of head and neck injuries. The seat belt would also apply too much force to the
ribs or abdomen, which could severely
injure internal organs such as your liver or
spleen.
Adjust the seat belt so that the shoulder
section is located as close as possible to
the middle of the shoulder. It should not
touch the neck. Never pass the shoulder
portion of the seat belt under your arm. For
this purpose, you can adjust the height of
the seat belt outlet.
R Position the lap belt as low as possible on
your hips and not across the abdomen. If
the lap belt is positioned across your abdo-
men, it could cause serious injuries in a
crash.
R Never wear seat belts over rigid or breaka-
ble objects in or on your clothing, such as
eyeglasses, pens, keys etc., as these might cause injuries.
R Make sure the seat belt is always fitted
snugly. Take special care of this when wear-
ing loose clothing.
R Never use a seat belt for more than one
person at a time. Do not fasten a seat belt
around a person and another person or
other objects at the same time.
R Seat belts should not be worn twisted. In a
crash, you would not have the full width of
the seat belt to distribute impact forces.
The twisted seat belt against your body
could cause injuries.
R Pregnant women should also always use a
lap-shoulder belt. The lap belt portion
should be positioned as low as possible on
the hips to avoid any possible pressure on
the abdomen.
R Place the seat backrest in a position that is
as upright as possible.
R Check your seat belt during travel to make
sure it is properly positioned.
Occupant safety57
Safety
Z
RNever place your feet on the instrument
panel, dashboard, or on the seat. Always
keep both feet on the floor in front of the
seat.
R When using a seat belt to secure infant
restraints, toddler restraints, or children in
booster seats, always follow the child seat
manufacturer's instructions.
GWARNING
Do not pass seat belts over sharp edges. They
could tear.
Do not allow the seat belt to get caught in the
door or in the seat adjustment mechanism.
This could damage the seat belt.
Never attempt to make modifications to seat
belts. This could impair the effectiveness of
the seat belts.
Fastening seat belts
GWARNING
According to accident statistics, children are
safer when properly restrained on the rear
seats than on the front-passenger seat. Thus, we strongly recommend that children be
placed in the rear seat whenever possible.
Regardless of seating position, children 12
years old and under must be seated and prop- erly secured in an appropriately sized child
restraint system or booster seat recommen-
ded for the size and weight of the child. For
additional information, see the "Children in
the vehicle" section.
A child's risk of serious or fatal injuries is sig-
nificantly increased if the child restraints are
not properly secured in the vehicle and/or the child is not properly secured in the child
restraint.
X Adjust the seat and move the backrest to
an almost vertical position ( Y page 100).
X Pull the seat belt smoothly through belt
sash guide :.
X Without twisting it, guide the shoulder sec-
tion of the seat belt across the middle of
your shoulder and the lap section across
your pelvis.
X Engage belt tongue ; in buckle =.
Seat-belt adjustment: if necessary, the
driver's and front-passenger seat belts
automatically adjust to the upper body
( Y page 59).
X If necessary, adjust the seat belt to the
appropriate height ( Y page 59).
X If necessary, pull upwards on the shoulder
section of the seat belt to tighten the belt
across your body.
All seat belts except the driver's seat belt are equipped with a special seat belt retractor tosecurely fasten child restraint systems in the
vehicle. For further information on special
seat belt retractors, see ( Y page 64).
For more information about releasing the seat
belt with release button ?, see "Releasing
seat belts" ( Y page 59).
58Occupant safety
Safety
Rthe belt tongue is engaged in the buckle on
each of the lap-shoulder belts in the front
R the front-passenger seat is occupied and
the belt tongue is engaged in the buckle on
the front-passenger side
The ETDs on the outside seats in the rear
compartment are triggered independently of
the lock status of the seat belts.
The Emergency Tensioning Devices are trig-
gered depending on the type and severity of
an accident, if:
R in certain situations where the vehicle rolls
over and the system determines that it can
provide additional protection
R in the event of a head-on or rear-end colli-
sion, the vehicle decelerates or accelerates
rapidly in a longitudinal direction during the initial stages of the impact
R in the event of a side impact, the vehicle
decelerates or accelerates rapidly in a lat-
eral direction on the side opposite the
impact
If the ETDs are deployed, you will hear a bang,
and a small amount of powder may also be
released. Only in rare cases will the bang
affect your hearing. The powder that is
released generally does not constitute a
health hazard and does not indicate that there is a fire in the vehicle. The dust might cause
some temporary breathing difficulty for peo-
ple with asthma or other breathing trouble. To avoid this, you may wish to get out of the
vehicle or open the windows as soon as it is
safe to do so. The 6 SRS warning lamp
lights up.
If the seat belt is also equipped with a seat
belt force limiter and this is triggered, the
force exerted by the seat belt on the vehicle
occupant is reduced.
The seat belt force limiters for the front seats
are synchronized with the front air bags,
which absorb part of the deceleration force.
This results in the force exerted on the occu-
pant being distributed over a greater area.Children in the vehicle
Child restraint systems
Important safety notes
Mercedes-Benz recommends that you always
properly secure all infants and children with a child or infant seat restraint system for the
trip.
The use of seat belts and infant and child
restraint systems is required by law in: R all 50 states
R the U.S. territories
R the District of Columbia
R all Canadian provinces
Infants and children must always be seated in an appropriate infant or child restraint systemrecommended for the size and weight of the
child. The infant or child restraint system
must be properly secured in accordance with
the manufacturer's instructions.
All infant or child restraint systems must meet
the following standards:
R U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Stand-
ards 213 and 225
R Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
213 and 210.2
Confirmation that the child restraint system
corresponds to the standards can be found
on an instruction label on the child restraint
system. This confirmation can also be found
in the installation instructions that are inclu-
ded with the child restraint system.
Always read and follow the manufacturer's
instructions when using an infant or child
restraint system or booster seat.
Observe the warning labels in the vehicle inte-
rior or on the infant or child restraint.
GWARNING
According to accident statistics, children are
safer when properly restrained in the rear
seating positions than in the front seating
position. Thus, we strongly recommend that
children be placed in the rear seats whenever
Children in the vehicle61
Safety
Z
possible. Regardless of seating position, chil-dren 12 years old and under must be seated
and properly secured in an appropriate infant
restraint, toddler restraint, or booster seat
recommended for the size and weight of the
child.
The infant or child restraint must be properly
secured with the vehicle's seat belt, the seat
belt and top tether strap, or lower anchors and
top tether strap, fully in accordance with the
child seat manufacturer's instructions.
Occupants, especially children, should always
sit as upright as possible, wear the seat belt
properly and use an appropriately sized infant
restraint, toddler restraint, or booster seat
recommended for the size and weight of the
child.
Children can be killed or seriously injured by
an inflating air bag. Note the following impor- tant information when circumstances require
you to place a child in the front passenger
seat:
R Your vehicle is equipped with air bag tech-
nology designed to deactivate the front
passenger front air bag in your vehicle
when the system senses the weight of a
typical 12
designed for them. Only replace damaged
covers with genuine covers.
GWARNING
If the child restraint system is installed incor-rectly or is not secured, it can come loose in
the event of an accident, heavy braking or a
sudden change in direction. The child
restraint system could be thrown about, strik- ing vehicle occupants. There is an increased
risk of injury, possibly even fatal.
Always install child restraint systems prop-
erly, even if they are not being used. Make
sure that you observe the child restraint sys-
tem manufacturer's installation instructions.
GWARNING
Child restraint systems or their securing sys-
tems which have been damaged or subjected to a load in an accident can no longer protect
as intended. The child cannot then be
restrained in the event of an accident, heavy
braking or sudden changes of direction. There is an increased risk of injury, possibly even
fatal.
Replace child restraint systems which have
been damaged or subjected to a load in an
accident as soon as possible. Have the secur-
ing systems on the child restraint system
checked at a qualified specialist workshop,
before you install a child restraint system
again.
The securing systems of child restraint sys-
tems are: R the seat belt system
R the LATCH-type (ISOFIX) securing rings
R the Top Tether anchorages
GWARNING
Infants and small children should never share
a seat belt with another occupant. In the event
of an accident, they could be crushed
between the occupant and seat belt.
A child's risk of serious or fatal injuries is sig- nificantly increased if the child restraints are
not properly secured in the vehicle and/or thechild is not properly secured in the child
restraint.
Children that are too large for a child restraint
must travel in seats using normal seat belts.
Position the shoulder belt across the chest
and shoulder, not the face or neck. A booster seat may be necessary to achieve proper seat
belt positioning for children over 41 lbs
(18 kg) until they reach a height where a lap/
shoulder belt fits properly without a booster
seat.
When the child restraint is not in use, remove it from the vehicle or secure it with the seat
belt to prevent the child restraint from becom-
ing a projectile in the event of an accident.
GWARNING
If children are left unsupervised in the vehicle, they could:
R open the doors, thus endangering other
people or road users.
R get out and disrupt traffic.
R operate the vehicle's equipment.
Additionally, children could set the vehicle in
motion if, for example, they:
R release the parking brake.
R shifting the automatic transmission out of
park position P
R Start the engine.
There is a risk of an accident and injury.
When leaving the vehicle, always take the
SmartKey with you and lock the vehicle. Never
leave children or animals unattended in the
vehicle. Always keep the SmartKey out of
reach of children.
GWARNING
If persons, particularly children are subjected to prolonged exposure to extreme heat or
cold, there is a risk of injury, possibly even
fatal. Never leave children unattended in the
vehicle.
Children in the vehicle63
Safety
Z