Airbags

Important safety notes

WARNING

Airbags provide additional protection, but never replace seat belts.

To reduce the risk of serious or fatal injury due to airbag deployment, observe the following notes:

• Occupants, especially pregnant women, must always fasten their seat belt correctly and sit back against the backrest, which should be adjusted almost upright. The head restraint must support the head at eye level.
• Always protect children under 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) tall or under 12 years of age with appropriate child restraint systems.
• All occupants must sit as far away from the airbags as possible. However, the driver's position must allow them to drive the vehicle safely. The distance between their chest and the center of the driver's front airbag cover must be as large as possible.
• Move the front passenger seat as far back as possible. This applies in particular when you place a child in a child restraint system on it.
• Occupants, especially children, must never rest their head against the windows in the deployment area of the side airbags/curtain airbags.
• Only install a rear-facing child seat on the front passenger seat if the corresponding front airbag is deactivated. In vehicles equipped with automatic child seat recognition for the front passenger seat, installing a child seat with a transponder for automatic child seat recognition on the front passenger seat deactivates the front passenger airbag. The PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF indicator lamp must then be lit permanently.
  If the rear-facing child seat is not compatible with automatic child seat recognition, or if your vehicle is not equipped with automatic child seat recognition for the front passenger seat, install the child in a child seat on a suitable rear seat. If you wish to install a forward-facing child seat on the front passenger seat, you must move the front passenger seat fully back.
• Make sure that no heavy or sharp-edged objects are in the pockets of your clothing.
• Do not lean forward (over the driver's or front passenger's airbag cover, for example), especially while the vehicle is moving.
• Do not place your feet on the dashboard.
• Hold the steering wheel only by the rim and from the outside. This allows the airbag to deploy unobstructed. If you hold the steering wheel from the inside, you may be injured if the airbag is triggered.
• Do not lean against the doors.
• Make sure that no people, animals or objects are between the vehicle occupants and the airbag deployment area.
• Do not place any objects between the seat backrest and the door.
• Do not hang hard objects, such as hangers, on the grab handles or coat hooks.
• Do not attach any accessories (such as cup holders) to the doors.

The risk of injury caused by an airbag cannot be completely ruled out, because it must deploy very quickly.

WARNING

To ensure that the airbags function correctly, do not cover the following parts and do not affix any stickers or plates to them:

• the steering wheel padding
• the driver's knee airbag cover below the steering column
• the front passenger airbag cover
• the outer side of the front seats
• the side trim next to the rear bench seat backrest
• the roof frame trim between the front A-pillars and the rear C-pillars

WARNING

When the airbags deploy, a small amount of dust is released briefly. However, it may cause temporary breathing difficulties in persons who suffer from asthma or other respiratory conditions.

To avoid these difficulties, leave the vehicle immediately if you can do so safely. You can also open a window to let in fresh air. This dust is not harmful and is not a sign of a fire in the vehicle.

WARNING

After the airbags have deployed, the airbag components are hot. Do not touch them to avoid burns.

Have the airbags replaced by a qualified workshop. Otherwise, in the event of another accident, the occupants will no longer be protected by the airbags.

Inflated airbags slow down and reduce the movement of the occupants, in addition to the restraint provided by the seat belts.

The airbags deploy with a loud bang and may release dust. With rare exceptions, this bang is not harmful to hearing. The dust released is generally not harmful. The SRS warning lamplights up.

The airbag locations are marked with the word AIRBAG.

Front airbags

Do not place heavy objects on the front passenger seat. The seat occupancy could be detected and the passenger restraint systems could be triggered unnecessarily in an accident. Have any restraint systems that have been deployed replaced.

The front airbags increase the protective potential for the driver and front passenger against head and chest injuries.

The driver's front airbag 1 deploys in front of the steering wheel, the front passenger airbag 2 deploys in front of and above the glove compartment.

They deploy during the initial phase of an accident that causes significant longitudinal deceleration or acceleration of the vehicle, if they can provide additional protective action beyond that of the seat belts, provided the seat belts are fastened, independently of the other airbags in the vehicle. The front airbags do not deploy in the event of a rollover, unless significant longitudinal deceleration is detected.

The front passenger airbag 2 only deploys if the front passenger seat is detected as occupied. The PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF lampon the center console is not lit. This means that no child seat compatible with automatic child seat recognition is installed on the front passenger seat or, if such a child seat is installed, that it is not installed correctly.

Driver's knee airbag

The driver's knee airbag 1 always deploys at the same time as the driver's front airbag and deploys below the steering column.

The driver's knee airbag 1 increases the protective potential for the driver against

• knee injuries
• thigh injuries
• leg injuries

Rear side airbags

WARNING

If you want to use seat covers, for safety reasons Mercedes-Benz recommends using only seat covers approved for Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

The seams of the seat covers must be able to tear open to allow the side airbags to deploy. Otherwise, the side airbags will not deploy correctly and will not provide the intended protection in the event of an accident. You can obtain suitable seat covers from a Mercedes-Benz Service Center, for example.

In the event of deployment, the side airbags increase the protective potential for occupants on the side where the impact occurs, thereby reducing the risk of chest injuries. However, they do not protect

• the head
• the neck
• the arms

The front side airbags 1 and rear side airbags 2 deploy at the outer side of the seat backrests.

They deploy

• on the side where the impact occurs
• during the initial phase of an accident that causes significant lateral deceleration or acceleration of the vehicle, for example in a side collision
• whether or not the seat belts are fastened
• regardless of the front airbags
• regardless of the belt retractors

Curtain airbags

In the event of deployment, curtain airbags increase the protection of occupants on the side where the impact occurs, thereby reducing the risk of head injury (but not of chest or arm injuries).

Curtain airbags are mounted along the sides of the roof frame and deploy from the A-pillar to the C-pillar.

The curtain airbags 1 deploy

• on the side where the impact occurs
• during the initial phase of an accident that causes significant lateral deceleration or acceleration of the vehicle, for example in a side collision
• regardless of whether the front passenger seat is occupied or not
• whether or not the seat belts are fastened
• regardless of the front airbags