2020 MERCEDES-BENZ SL CLASS traction control

!
Avoid
spinning thedriven wheels foran
extended periodwithESP®
deactivated. You
could otherwise damagethedrivetrain.
Deac <0057004C005900440057004C0051004A0012004400460057004C005900440057
004C0051004A> ESP® X
To activate SPORThandling mode:briefly
press button 0043.
The 0074 SPORT handling modewarning
lamp inthe instrument clusterlightsup.The
SPORT Handling Mode SPORT
Handling Modemessage appearsin
the multifunction display.
X To
deactivate SPORThandling mode:
briefly pressbutton 0043.
The 0074 SPORT handling modewarning
lamp inthe instrument clustergoesout.
X To deactivate ESP®
:press button 0043until
the 00BB ESP®
OFF warning lamplights up
in the instrument cluster.
The 00E5 OFF OFF
message appearsinthe multi-
function display.
X To activate ESP®
:briefly pressbutton 0043.
The 00BB ESP®
OFF warning lampinthe
instrument clustergoesout.The00E5 ESP®
ON ON
message appearsinthe multifunction
displa y.
Characteristics ofactivated SPORThan-
dling mode
If SPORT handling modeisactivated andone
or more wheels starttospin, the00E5 ESP®
warning lampinthe instrument clusterflashes.
ESP ®
only stabilizes thevehicle toalimited
degree.
When SPORT handling modeisactivated:
R ESP ®
only improves drivingstability toa
limited degree
R traction controlisstill activated R
engine torqueisno longer limited andthe
drive wheels areable tospin
R ESP ®
still provides supportwhenyoubrake
firmly
Characteristics whenESP®
is deactiva-
ted
If ESP ®
is deactivated andone ormore wheels
start tospin, the00E5 ESP®
warning lampin
the instrument clusterflashes. Insuch situa-
tions, ESP®
will notstabilize thevehicle.
If you deactivate ESP®
:
R ESP ®
no longer improves drivingstability
R engine torqueisno longer limited andthe
drive wheels areable tospin
R traction controlisstill activated
R Act ive Brake Assist isno longer available;
nor isitactivated ifyou brake firmlywith
assistance fromESP®
R PRE-SAF E®
is no longer available, norisit
activated ifyou brake firmlyandESP®
inter-
venes
R Act ive Brake Assist withcross-t rafficfunc-
tion isno longer available; norisitactivated
if you brake firmlywithassistance from
ESP ®
R ESP ®
still provides supportwhenyoubrake
firmly EBD
(electronic brakeforcedistribu-
tion)
General information EBD
monitors andcont rolsthebrake pressure
on the rear wheels toimprove drivingstability
while braking.
Importa ntsafety notes i
Observe
the"Important safetynotes" sec-
tion fordriving safetysystems (Ypage 60). G
WARNING
If EBD ismalfunctioning, therear wheels can
lock, e.g.under fullbraking. Thisincreases
the risk ofskidding andanaccident.
You should therefore adaptyour driving
style tothe different handling characteris- Driving
safetysystems
69Safety
Z

R
optimal fuelconsumpt ionresulting fromthe
automatic transmissionshifting upsooner.
The vehicle isdriven inthe low engine speed
range andthewheels areless likely tospin.
R gliding modeisavaila ble.
R the ECO start/stop functionisavaila ble.
R ESP ®
provides theoptimum compromise
between tractionand stability. Furtherinfor-
mation aboutESP®
(Y page 66).
Drive programI(Individual)
In drive program Ithe following properties of
the drive program canbeselected:
R the drive (engine management )
R the transm issionmanagement
R ESP ®
R the suspension
Infor mation aboutconfiguring driveprogram I
with themultimedia systemcanbefound in
the Digital Operator's Manual.
i To
permanent lyselect thegears indrive
program Iusing thesteering wheelpaddle
shifters, selecttheM(manual) settingfor
the transm ission. Manua
lgearshift ing
General notes You
canchange gearyourself usingthesteer-
ing wheel paddle shifters. Thetransm ission
must beinposition 005Btodo this.
Depending onwhich steering wheelpaddle
shifter ispulled, theautomatic transmission
immediately shiftsintothenext gear down or
up, ifpermitt ed.
To use manual shifting, youhave twooptions:
R temporary setting
R permanent setting
If you activate manualgearshifting, themulti-
funct iondisplay willshow thecurrent gear
instead oftransm issionposition 005B.
If manual gearshifting isdeactivated, thegears
will beselected automatically. Temp
orarysetting X
To activat e:shift theselector leverto005B.
X Pull steering wheelpaddle shifter0043or0044.
The temporary settingisactive foracert ain
amount oftime. Under certaincondit ions,the
minimum amountoftime isexten ded,e.g.in
the case oflateral acceleration, duringoverrun
mode orwhen driving onsteep terrain.
X To deactivat e:pull steering wheelpaddle
shifter 0044and hold itin place.
or
X Use thelever toswitch thetransm ission
position.
or X All
vehicles (exceptMercedes-AMG vehi-
cles): usetheDYNAMI CSEL ECT button to
change thedrive program.
X Mercedes-AMG vehicles:usethe
DYNAMI CSEL ECT controller tochange the
drive program.
Perma nentsetting All
vehicles (exceptMercedes-AMG vehi-
cles) 142
Automa
tictransmissionDriving andparking

Warning/
indic ator
lamp 00510051
Sign altype
Poss iblecause s/cons equen cesand 0050 0050
Sol utions 00E5
0051
The yellow ESP®
war ning lamp flashes whilethe vehicl eis in motion.
ESP ®
or traction controlhasintervened becausethere isarisk ofskiddi ngorat
lea stone whee lhas started tospin.
Cru isecontrol orActive Distance AssistDISTRONIC isdea ctivated.
X When pulling away,only depre ssthe accele ratorpedalas far asnecessa ry.
X Ease offthe accele ratorpedalwhi lethe vehicl eis in motion.
X Adapt yourdrivi ngstyle tosui tthe road andweather conditions.
X Do not deactivate ESP®
.
In rare cases (Ypag e68) itmay bebest todea ctivate ESP®
.
Observe theimpor tantsafety notesonESP ®
(Y pag e66) . 00E500BB
0051
The yellow ESP®
and ESP®
OFF warning lamp sare litwhi lethe engine isrun-
ning.
ESP ®
is malfu nctioning.
Other drivingsystems anddrivingsafety systems mayalsomalfu nction.
G WARNING
The brake system continues tofunction normally,but witho utthe functions lis-
ted above.
The braki ngdista nceinan emerge ncybraki ngsitua tioncanthus increas e.
If ESP ®
is not opera tional,ESP ®
is unab leto stabi lizethevehicl e.
There isan increas edrisk ofskiddi ngand anaccide nt.
X Observe theadditiona ldisp laymessa gesinthe multi function display.
X Drive oncarefu lly.
X Visi ta qua lified speci alist worksho pimmed iately. 00BB
0051
The yellow ESP®
OFF warning lamp islit whi lethe engine isrunning orthe
ECO start/stop functionisactiva ted.
ESP ®
is dea ctivated.
G WARNING
If ESP ®
is swi tched off,ESP ®
is unab leto stabi lizethevehicl e.
Further drivingsystems ordrivi ngsafety systems arethus restricted, e.g.Active
Blind SpotAssist. Thesystem doesnotperform course-correcting brakeappli-
cations.
There isan increas edrisk ofskiddi ngand anaccide nt.
X Rea ctivate ESP®
.
In rare cases (Ypag e68) itmay bebest todea ctivate ESP®
.
Observe theimpor tantsafety notesonESP ®
(Y pag e66).
X Adapt yourdrivi ngstyle tosui tthe road andweather conditions.
If ESP ®
cannot beactiva ted:
X Drive oncarefu lly.
X Have ESP®
checked ataqua lified speci alist worksho p. 240
Indi
cator andwarni nglampsOn-bo ardcomput erand displays

R
Do not drive with tire swh ich have too little
trea dde pth .Thi ssigni ficantl yred uce sthe
tra ctio non wetroa ds(hyd rop laning ).
R Re place thetiresaf ter six ye arsat the lat-
est, regardless ofwe ar. MOE
xtende dtire s(ti res with run-f lat
prope rties)
Wi th MOExte ndedtire s(ti res with runfla t
cha racteri stics) ,yo ucan conti nuetodrive your
veh icleeve nif the reisatota llo ss ofpre ssu re
in one ormor etire s.
MOExte ndedtire sma yonl ybe used incon-
juncti onwith an acti vetire pressu remoni tor
and onlyon wheelssp eci fically teste dby
Me rced es-Benz.
Note son drivin gwi th MOExte ndedtire swi th a
fla ttire (Ypage 281 ).
Veh icles equipp ed with MOExte ndedtire sar e
not equipp ed with aTIR EFIT kitatthe factory .
It is the refore reco mme ndedtha tyo uad ditio n-
al ly eq uip yo ur veh iclewi th aTIR EFIT kitifyo u
mou nttire stha tdo not featureru n-fl atcha rac-
teri stics, e.g.wi nter tires.ATIR EFIT kitcan be
ob tained fromaqu alifi ed speci alistwo rksh op. Win
terope ratio n Ge
neral notes
Hav eyo ur veh iclewi nter-p roofed ataqu alifi ed
sp eci alistwo rksh opatthe onse tof winter.
Ob ser vethe note sin the "Cha ngi ng awh eel"
sec tion(Y page 316 ). Dri
ving with summe rtire s
At temp eratures below 45 ‡(+7 †),su mme r
tire slo se elas tici tyand therefore tractio nand
bra king powe r.Ch ang ethe tireson your veh i-
cle toM+S tires.Us ing su mmer tiresatvery
cold tempera turescould cause cracks toform,
thereby damagingthetires perma nently.
Mercede s-Benzcannot acceptresponsi bility
for this type ofdama ge. G
WARNING
Damage dtires cancause tireinflati onpres-
sure loss. Asaresul t,you could losecontrol
of you rvehicl e.There isarisk ofaccide nt. Check
thetires regularlyforsigns ofdam-
age and repla ceany dama gedtires immedi -
ately . M+S
tires G
WARNING
M+S tireswithatire tread depth ofless than
00CF in(4 mm) arenot suitable foruse inwin-
ter and donot provid esuffici enttraction.
There isarisk ofan accide nt.
M+S tireswithatread depth ofless than 00CF
in (4 mm) must berepla cedimmedi ately.
At temperatu resbelo w45 ‡(+7 †), use win-
ter tires orall-season tires.Bothtypes oftire
are identifi edbythe M+S marking.
Only winter tiresbearing the004D snowfla ke
symbo lin add ition tothe M+S marking provide
the best possi blegrip inwintry roadcondi-
tions.
Only these tireswillall ow drivi ngsafety sys-
tems suchasABS andESP®
to function opti-
mall yin winter. Thesetireshave been devel-
oped specifi callyfor drivi nginsnow.
Use M+S tiresofthe same make andtread on
all whee lsto maintai nsafe handl ingcharacter-
istics.
Alwa ysobserve themaximu mpermis sible
speed specifiedfor the M+S tiresyouhave
mounted.
When youhave mounted theM+S tires:
X Check thetire pressu res(Ypage 302).
X Resta rtthe tire pressu remonitor
(Y page 304). Snow
chains G
WARNING
If snow chains areinstall edtothe front
whee ls,they maydrag against thevehicl e
body orchassi scomponents. Thiscould
cause damagetothe vehicl eor the tires.
There isarisk ofan accide nt. 298
Winter
operationWheelsand tires

Gross
AxleWeig htRating (GAWR) :the maxi-
mum permiss iblewei ght that canbecarried by
one axle (front orrear axle) .
To ensure thatyourvehicle doesnotexceed
the maximu mpermiss iblevalu es(gross vehi-
cle weight and maximu mgross axleweight rat-
ing), have yourloa ded vehicle (includingdriver,
occupa ntsand theload)wei ghed onasuita ble
vehicle weighbrid ge. All
about wheelsand tires Unifo
rmTire Quality Grading Stand-
ards
Overvie wof Tire Quality Grading
Standards Uniform
TireQual ityGrad ingStandards are
U.S. government specifications. Theirpurpose
is to provid edrivers withuniform reliableinfor-
mation ontire performa ncedata. Tiremanu-
facturers havetograde tiresusing threeper-
formance factors:0043tread weargrade ,0044
traction gradeand0087temperatu regrade .
These regulations donot applyto Cana da.
Neverthele ss,alltires soldinNorth America
are provid edwith thecorrespondi ngqua lity
gradi ngmarkings onthe sidew allofthe tire.
Qual itygrade scan befound, whereapplicable,
on the tire sidew allbetwee ntread shoulder
and maximu msection width.
Example:
R Treadwear grade:200
R Traction grade:AA
R Temperatur egrade: A
All passe ngercartires must conform tothe
statutory safetyrequirements inadd ition to
these grades. i
The
actual valuesfor tires arevehicle -spe-
cific andmay devia tefrom thevalu esinthe
ill ustration.
Treadwear The
treadw eargrade isacompara tiverating
base don the wea rrate ofthe tire when tested
under controlled conditions onaspecifi edU.S.
government course.Forexampl e,atire grade d
150 wouldwea rone andone-half timesaswel l
on the government testtrack asatire grade d
100.
The relative performa nceoftires depends
upon theactual conditions oftheir use,how-
ever, andmay depa rtsignifi cantly fromthe
norm duetovaria tions indriving habits,ser-
vice practices anddifferences inroad charac-
teristics andclimate.
Traction G
WARNING
The traction gradeassigned tothis tireis
base don straight-ahe adbraking traction
tests, anddoes notinclud eaccelera tion,
cornering, hydroplaning, orpeak traction
characteris tics.
! Avoid
wheelspin.This canleadto dama ge
to the drive train.
The traction grades– from highe stto lowe st–
are AA, A,Band C.Those gradesreprese ntthe
tire's ability tostop onwet paveme ntas meas-
ured under controlled conditions onspecifi ed
government testsurface sof aspha ltand con-
crete. Atire marked Cmay have poortraction
performa nce.
The safe speed onawet, snow covered oricy
road isalw ayslowe rthan ondry road surfa-
ces.
You shoul dpay specia lattention toroad con-
ditions whentemperatu resare arou ndfreezing
point.
Mercedes -Benzrecommends aminimum tread
depth of00CF in(4 mm) onallfour winter tires.
Observe thelega llyrequi redminimum tire
tread depth (Ypage 297). Winter tirescan
reduce thebraking distance onsnow-covered
surface sin compari sonwith summer tires.The
braking distance isstill much further thanon Al
labout wheelsand tires
309Wheelsand tires Z

Maximum
loadedvehi cleweight
The maximu mwei ght isthe sum of:
R the curb weight ofthe vehicl e
R the weight ofthe accesso ries
R the loadlimi t
R the weight ofthe factory installedoptiona l
equ ipme nt
Kil opasc al(kPa)
Metric unitfortire pressu re.6.9 kPa corre-
sponds to1psi. Another unitfortire pressu re
is bar. 100 kilop ascals(kPa) arethe equivalent
of 1bar.
Load index
In add ition tothe load-bea ringindex, theload
index mayalsobe impri nted onthe side wallof
the tire. This speci fiestheload-bea ringcapa -
city more precis ely.
Curb weight
The weight ofavehicl ewith standard equip-
ment includ ingthe maximu mcapa cityoffuel ,
oil and coola nt.Itals oinclud esthe air-condi -
tioning system andoptiona lequ ipme ntifthese
are install edinthe vehicl e,but does not
includ epass engers orlug gage .
Maximum loadrating
The maximu mloa drating isthe maximu mper-
missi bleweight inkilog rams orlbs forwhi cha
tire isapp roved.
Maximum permissibletire pressure
Maximu mpermi ssibletire pressu refor one
tire.
Maximum loadonone tire
Maximu mloa don one tire. This iscalcu lated
by divi ding themaximu maxle loadof one axle
by two.
PSI (poun dsper square inch)
A standar dunit ofmeasu refor tire pressu re.
Aspe ctratio
Rel ationshi pbetwe entire heig htand tirewidth
in percent.
Tire pressure
This ispressu reinsid ethe tire applying anout-
ward force toeach square inch ofthe tire's
surfa ce.The tirepressu reisspeci fiedin pou
nds persquare inch (psi),in kilop ascal
(kPa) orinbar. Thetirepressu reshou ldonly
be corrected whenthetires arecold.
Col dtire pressure
The tires arecold:
R ifthe vehicl ehas been parked withthetires
out ofdire ctsunli ghtforatlea stthree hours
and
R ifthe vehicl ehas notbeen drivenfurther
than 1mile (1.6km)
Tread The part ofthe tire that comes intocontact
with theroad .
Bead
The tirebeadensure sthat thetire sits
secure lyon the whee l.There aresevera lsteel
wire sin the beadto prevent thetire from com-
ing loos efrom thewhee lrim.
Sidew all
The part ofthe tire betwe enthe tread andthe
bea d.
Weig htofoption alextras
The combined weight ofthose optiona lextras
that weighmore thanthereplaced standard
parts andmore than2.3kg(5lbs) .These
optiona lextras, suchashigh -performa nce
brakes ,level control, aroof rack orahigh -per-
formance battery,are not includ edinthe curb
wei ght and theweight ofthe accesso ries.
TIN (Tire Identification Number)
This isauniq ueidentifier whichcan beused
by atire manufa cturertoide ntify tires, for
exampl efor aprodu ctrecal l,and thus identify
the purcha sers.TheTINismade upofthe
manufa cturer's identity code, tiresize, tire
type code andthemanufa cturing date.
Load bearin gindex
The loadbea ring index (also loa dindex) isa
code thatcontains themaximu mloa dbea ring
capa cityofatire.
Traction Traction isthe resul tof friction betweenthe
tires andtheroad surface. Al
labout wheelsand tires
315Wheelsand tires Z