Page 49 of 410

abdomen or neck injuries, for example. This
poses an increased risk of injury or even fatalinjury.
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
Persons under 5 ft (1.50 m) in height cannot
fasten the seat belt correctly without an addi- tional suitable restraint system. If the seat
belt is incorrectly fastened, it cannot protect
as intended. Furthermore, an incorrectly fas-
tened seat belt can cause additional injury, for
example, in an accident, during braking or an
abrupt change of direction. This poses an
increased risk of injury or even fatal injury.
For this reason, always secure persons under
5 ft (1.50 m) in height in suitable restraint
systems.
If a child younger than twelve years old and
under 5 ft (1.50 m) in height is traveling in thevehicle:
Ralways secure the child in a child restraint
system suitable for this Mercedes-Benz
vehicle. The child restraint system must be
appropriate to the age, weight and size of
the child
Ralways observe the instructions and safety
notes in the "Children in the vehicle" sec-
tion of this Operator's Manual
(
Ypage 62) in addition to the child
restraint system manufacturer's installa-
tion instructions
Rbe sure to observe the instructions and
safety notes on the "Occupant classifica-
tion system (OCS)" (
Ypage 53)
GWARNING
The seat belts may not perform their intended protective function if:
Rthey are damaged, modified, extremely
dirty, bleach or dyed
Rthe seat belt buckle is damaged or
extremely dirty
Rthe 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.
Proper use of the seat belts
Observe the safety notes on the seat belt
(
Ypage 46).
All vehicle occupants must be wearing the
seat belt correctly before beginning the jour-
ney. Also make sure that all vehicle occu-
pants are always wearing the seat belt cor-
rectly while the vehicle is in motion.
When fastening the seat belt, always make
sure that:
Rthe seat belt tongue is only inserted to the
belt buckle belonging to that seat.
Rthe seat belt is tight across your body.
Avoid wearing bulky clothing, e.g. a winter
coat.
Rthe seat belt is not twisted.
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Only then can the forces which occur be
distributed over the area of the belt.
Rthe shoulder section of the belt is always
routed across the center of your shoulder.
The shoulder section of the belt must not
come into contact with your neck or be
routed under your arm.
Rthe lap belt passes tightly and as low down
as possible across your lap.
The lap belt must always be routed across
your hip joints and not across your abdo-
men. This applies particularly to pregnant
women. If necessary, push the lap belt
down to your hip joint and pull it tight using
the shoulder section of the belt.
Rthe seat belt is not routed across sharp,
pointed or fragile objects.
If you have such items located on or in yourclothing, e.g. pens, keys or eyeglasses,
store these in a suitable place.
Ronly one person is using a seat belt at a
time.
Infants and children must never travel sit-
ting on the lap of a vehicle occupant. In the
event of an accident, they could be crushed
between the vehicle occupant and seat
belt.
Robjects are never secured with a seat belt if
the seat belt is also being used by one of the
vehicle's occupants.
Also ensure that there are never objects
between a person and the seat, e.g. cush-
ions.
Seat belts are only intended to secure and
restrain vehicle occupants. Always observe
the "Loading guidelines" for securing objects,
luggage or loads (
Ypage 300).
Fastening seat belts
Observe the safety notes on the seat belt
(
Ypage 46) and the notes on correct use of
seat belts (
Ypage 47).
GWARNING
If the seat-belt extender is extended during
the journey, the seat belt is not fitted properly
on the body. The seat belt can then no longer
perform its intended protective function. This
poses an increased risk of injury or even fatal
injury.
Always make sure that the seat-belt extender is retracted during a journey.
Seat-belt extender
The seat-belt extender for the driver and front
passenger helps you fasten your seat belt.
Seat-belt extender =is extended when the
respective door is closed and the SmartKey is
turned to position 1or 2in the ignition lock.
You can also extend seat-belt extender =
with seat-belt extender button ?.
48Occupant safety
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XPress seat-belt extender button?.
Seat-belt extender =extends.
Seat-belt extender =is retracted again if:
Rthe belt tongue is engaged in the seat belt
buckle.
Rthe belt tongue is not engaged in the seat
belt buckle within 60 seconds.
In this case, you can extend seat-belt
extender =again. Press seat-belt
extender button ?again.
Rthe respective door is opened.
Rthe SmartKey is turned to position 0in the
ignition lock.
Ryou release the seat backrest and fold it
forwards.
Rthe front-passenger seat is unoccupied
after approximately five seconds.
If you press seat-belt extender button ?
after this, seat-belt extender =will not
extend.
Basic illustration
XAdjust the seat (Ypage 106).
The seat backrest must be in an almost
vertical position.
XPull the seat belt smoothly out of seat-belt
extender =and engage belt tongue ;
into belt buckle :.
The seat belt on the driver’s seat and the
front-passenger seat may be tightened automatically, see "Belt adjustment"
(
Ypage 50).
XIf 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 to
securely fasten child restraint systems in the
vehicle. Further information can be found
under "Special seat belt retractor"
(
Ypage 63).
Releasing seat belts
!Make sure that the seat belt is fully rolled
up. Otherwise, the seat belt or belt tongue
will be trapped in the door or in the seat
mechanism. This could damage the door,
the door trim panel and the seat belt. Dam-
aged seat belts can no longer fulfill their
protective function and must be replaced.
Visit a qualified specialist workshop.
Basic illustration
XPress release button :, hold belt
tongue ;firmly and guide it back towards
seat-belt extender =.
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Seat belt adjustment
The seat-belt adjustment is an integral part ofthe PRE-SAFE®convenience function. This
function adjusts the driver's and front-
passenger seat belt to the upper body of the
occupants.
The belt strap is tightened slightly when:
Rthe belt tongue is engaged in the buckle
when the seat-belt extender is retracted
and
Rthe ignition is switched on
The seat-belt adjustment will apply a certain
retraction force if any slack is detected
between the vehicle occupant and the seat
belt. Do not hold on to the seat belt tightly
while it is adjusting.
You can switch the seat-belt adjustment on
and off using COMAND. Information on acti-
vating and deactivating the seat-belt adjust-
ment function can be found in the Digital
Operator's Manual.
Belt warning for the driver and front
passenger
The 7 seat belt warning lamp in the instru-
ment cluster is a reminder that all vehicle
occupants must wear their seat belts. It may
light up continuously or flash. In addition,
there may be a warning tone.
Regardless of whether the driver's seat belt
has already been fastened, the 7seat belt
warning lamp lights up for six seconds each
time the engine is started. If, after
six seconds, the driver or front-passenger
seat belt has not been fastened and the doors
are closed, the 7seat belt warning lamp
lights up. As soon as the driver's and front-
passenger seat belts are fastened or a front
door is opened again, the 7seat belt
warning lamp goes out.
If the driver's seat belt is not fastened after
the engine is started, an additional warning
tone will sound. This warning tone stops after
six seconds or when the driver's seat belt is
fastened. If the vehicle's speed exceeds 15 mph
(25 km/h) once and the driver's and front-
passenger seat belts are not fastened, a
warning tone sounds. A warning tone also
sounds with increasing intensity for
60 seconds or until the driver or front
passenger have fastened their seat belts.
If the driver or front passenger unfasten their
seat belts during the journey, the seat belt
warning is activated again.
iFor more information on the
7seat
belt warning lamp, see "Warning and indi-
cator lamps in the instrument cluster, seat
belts" (
Ypage 285).
Air bags
Introduction
The installation point of an air bag can be rec-
ognized by the AIR BAG symbol.
An air bag complements the correctly fas-
tened seat belt. It is no substitute for the seat
belt. The air bag provides additional protec-
tion in applicable accident situations.
Not all air bags are deployed in an accident.
The different air bag systems function inde-
pendently from one another (
Ypage 59).
However, no system available today can com-
pletely eliminate injuries and fatalities.
It is also not possible to rule out a risk of injury
caused by an air bag due to the high speed at
which the air bag must be deployed.
Important safety notes
GWARNING
If you do not sit in the correct seat position,
the air bag cannot protect as intended and
could even cause additional injury when
deployed. This poses an increased risk of
injury or even fatal injury.
50Occupant safety
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To avoid hazardous situations, always make
sure that all of the vehicle's occupants:
Rhave fastened their seat belts correctly,
including pregnant women
Rare sitting correctly and maintain the great-
est possible distance to the air bags
Rfollow the following instructions
Always make sure that there are no objects
between the air bag and the vehicle's occu-
pants.
RAdjust the seats properly before beginning
your journey. Always make sure that the
seat is in an almost upright position. The
center of the head restraint must support
the head at about eye level.
RMove the driver's and front-passenger
seats as far back as possible. The driver's
seat position must allow the vehicle to be
driven safely.
ROnly hold the steering wheel on the out-
side. This allows the air bag to be fully
deployed.
RAlways lean against the backrest while driv-
ing. Do not lean forwards or lean against
the door or side window. You may other-
wise be in the deployment area of the air
bags.
RAlways keep your feet in the footwell in
front of the seat. Do not put your feet on the
dashboard, for example. Your feet may oth- erwise be in the deployment area of the air
bag.
RFor this reason, always secure persons less
than 5 ft (1.50 m) tall in suitable restraint
systems. Up to this height, the seat belt
cannot be worn correctly.
If a child is traveling in your vehicle, also
observe the following notes:
RAlways secure children under twelve years
of age and less than 5 ft (1.50 m)tall in
suitable child restraint systems.
RChild restraint systems should be installed on the rear seats.
ROnly secure a child in a rearward-facing
child restraint system on the front-
passenger seat when the front-passenger
front air bag is deactivated. If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF indicator lamp ispermanently lit, th
e front-passenger front
air bag is deactivated (
Ypage 45).
RAlways observe the instructions and safety
notes on the "Occupant Classification Sys-
tem (OCS)" (
Ypage 53) and on "Children
in the vehicle" (
Ypage 62) in addition to
the child restraint system manufacturer's
installation instructions.
Objects in the vehicle interior may pre-
vent an air bag from functioning correctly.
Before starting your journey and to avoid risks
resulting from the speed of the air bag as it
deploys, make sure that:
Rthere are no people, animals or objects
between the vehicle occupants and an air
bag.
Do not place any objects on the dashboard
e.g. above the front-passenger front air
bag.
Rthere are no objects between the seat, door
and B-pillar.
Rno hard objects, e.g. coat hangers, hang on
the grab handles or coat hooks.
Rno accessories, such as cup holders, are
attached to the vehicle within the deploy-
ment area of an air bag, e.g. to doors, side
windows, rear side trim or side walls.
Rno heavy, sharp-edged or fragile objects
are in the pockets of your clothing. Store
such objects in a suitable pla
ce.
GWARNING
If you modify the air bag cover or affix objects
such as stickers to it, the air bag can no longer
function correctly. There is an increased risk
of injury.
Never modify an air bag cover or affix objects
to it.
Occupant safety51
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GWARNING
Sensors to control the air bags are located in
the doors. Modifications or work not per-
formed correctly to the doors or door panel-
ing, as well as damaged doors, can lead to the
function of the sensors being impaired. The air
bags might therefore not function properly
anymore. Consequently, the air bags cannot
protect vehicle occupants as they are
designed to do. There is an increased risk of
injury.
Never modify the doors or parts of the doors.
Always have work on the doors or door pan-
eling carried out at a qualified specialist work-
shop.
Front air bags
Driver's air bag :deploys in front of the
steering wheel. Front-passenger front air
bag ;deploys in front of and above the glove
box.
When deployed, the front air bags offer addi-
tional head and thorax protection for the
occupants in the front seats.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF and
PASSENGER AIR BAG ON indicator lamps
inform you about the status of the front-
passenger front air bag (
Ypage 45).
The front-passenger front air bag will only
deploy if:
Rthe system, based on the OCS weight sen-
sor readings, detects that the front-
passenger seat is occupied (
Ypage 53). The PASSENGER AIR BAG ON indicator
lamp is lit (
Ypage 54)
Rthe restraint system control unit predicts a
high accident severity
Knee bags
Driver's knee bag :deploys under the steer-
ing column and front-passenger knee bag ;
under the glove box. The driver's and front-
passenger knee bags are triggered together
with the front air bags.
The driver's and front-passenger knee bags
offer additional thigh, knee and lower leg pro-
tection for the occupants in the front seats.
Side impact air bags
GWARNING
Unsuitable seat covers could restrict or even
prevent the deployment of the air bags inte-
grated into the seats. Consequently, the air
bags cannot protect vehicle occupants as
they are designed to do. In addition, the func- tion of the Occupant Classification System
(OCS) could be restricted. This poses an
increased risk of injury or even fatal injury.
You should only use seat covers that have
been approved for the respective seat by
Mercedes-Benz.
52Occupant safety
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Front side impact air bags:and rear side
impact air bags ;deploy next to the outer
bolster of the seat backrest.
When deployed, the side impact air bag offers
additional thorax protection. It also offers
additional pelvis protection for occupants in
the front seats. However, it does not protect
the:
Rhead
Rneck
Rarms
In the event of a side impact, the side impact
air bag is deployed on the side on which the
impact occurs.
The side impact air bag on the front-
passenger side (front) deploys under the fol-
lowing conditions:
Rthe OCS system detects that the front-
passenger seat is occupied or
Rthe belt tongue is engaged in the belt
buckle of the front-passenger seat
If the belt tongue is engaged in the belt
buckle, the side impact air bag on the front-
passenger side deploys if an appropriate acci- dent situation occurs. In this case, deploy-
ment is independent of whether the front-
passenger seat is occupied or not.
Window curtain air bags
Window curtain air bags :are integrated
into the side of the roof frame and deployed in
the area from the A-pillar to the C-pillar.
When deployed, the window curtain air bag
enhances the level of protection for the head.
However, it does not protect the chest or
arms.
In the event of a side impact, the window cur-
tain air bag is deployed on the side on which
the impact occurs.
If the system determines that they can offer
additional protection to that provided by the
seat belt, a window curtain air bag may be
deployed in other accident situations
(
Ypage 59).
Occupant Classification System
(OCS)
Introduction
The Occupant Classification System (OCS)
categorizes the person in the front-passenger
seat. Depending on that result, the front-
passenger front air bag and front-passenger
knee bag are either enabled or deactivated.
The system does not deactivate:
Rthe side impact air bag
Rthe window curtain air bag
Rthe Emergency Tensioning Devices
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Prerequisite
To be classified correctly, the front passenger
must sit:
Rwith the seat belt fastened correctly
Rin an almost upright position with their
back against the seat backrest
Rwith their feet resting on the floor, if possi-
ble
If the front passenger does not observe these
conditions, OCS may produce a false classi-
fication, e.g. because the front passenger:
Rtransfers their weight by supporting them-
selves on a vehicle armrest
Rsits in such a way that their weight is raised from the seat cushion
If it is absolutely necessary to install a child
restraint system on the front-passenger seat,
be sure to observe the correct positioning of
the child restraint system. Never place
objects under or behind the child restraint
system, e.g. cushions. Fully retract the seat
cushion length. The entire base of the child
restraint system must always rest on the seat
cushion of the front-passenger seat. The
backrest of the forward-facing child restraint
system must lie as flat as possible against the
backrest of the front-passenger seat.
The child restraint system must not touch the
roof or be subjected to a load by the head
restraint. Adjust the angle of the seat back-
rest and the head restraint position accord-
ingly.
Only then can OCS be guaranteed to function
correctly. Always observe the child restraint
system manufacturer's installation instruc-
tions.
Occupant Classification System opera-
tion (OCS)
:PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF indicator lamp
;PASSENGER AIR BAG ON indicator lamp
The indicator lamps inform you whether the
front-passenger front air bag is deactivated or
enabled.
XPress the Start/Stop button once or twice,
or turn the SmartKey to position 1or 2in
the ignition lock.
The system carries out self-diagnostics.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF and
PASSENGER AIR BAG ON indicator lamps
must light up simultaneously for approx-
imately six seconds.
The indicator lamps display the status of the
front-passenger front air bag.
RPASSENGER AIR BAG ON lights up: the
front-passenger front air bag is enabled. If,
in the event of an accident, all deployment
criteria are met, the front-passenger front
air bag is deployed.
RPASSENGER AIR BAG OFF lights up: the
front-passenger front air bag is deactiva-
ted. It will then not be deployed in the event
of an accident.
If the status of the front-passenger front air
bag changes while the vehicle is in motion, an
air bag display message appears in the instru-
ment cluster (
Ypage 264). When the front-
passenger seat is occupied, always pay atten-
tion to the PASSENGER AIR BAG ON and
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF indicator lamps. Be
aware of the status of the front-passenger
54Occupant safety
Safety